Catalyst and Peabody proposal to join together

Catalyst and Peabody announce proposal to join together

30 July 2021

Peabody and Catalyst Housing Limited have today announced proposals to join together to create a better, locally focused organisation. Both organisations' Boards believe there are significant benefits for residents in joining together, and are now launching consultations with residents to seek their views.

With scope to invest and innovate more in services, homes, communities, technology and people, the organisations believe the proposal would allow them to go further and faster with plans to improve service delivery and ways of working. Their combined financial capacity would allow them to share resources, be more efficient and meet their commitment to build affordable homes and places with safety, quality and energy efficiency at the core.

If the proposals go ahead, the combined organisation would be led by Ian McDermott. Ian McDermott will also be taking over as (interim) CEO of Peabody when Brendan Sarsfield leaves at the end of September. Peabody Chair, Lord Kerslake will be Designate Chair for the new organisation and Ravi Rajagopal, Chair of Catalyst will be Designate Vice Chair.

Ian McDermott, CEO of Catalyst and designate CEO for the combined organisation, said:

"We believe that we can go further and faster together. With our shared, aspirations and geographical reach, we can create an organisation which has customers at the front and centre of its thinking and planning. We will have a stronger local focus and be more connected with our communities. We can combine this with the benefits of scale and the ability created by the larger organisation. It is difficult to imagine two organisations with more closely aligned values and vision for the future."

Lord Kerslake, Chair of Peabody and designate chair for the combined organisation, said:

"Our new association will have around 100,000 homes, and I believe that this scale, combined with our local knowledge, will enable us to provide valuable insight from our residents' experiences to help better inform policy and have a positive impact on life chances. We'll look forward to working with government and partners to develop innovative solutions that improve services to customers, enhance building safety and reduce carbon consumption."

The organisations will be launching resident consultations in the summer to gather their views, before the respective Boards consider feedback and decide whether to proceed with the proposals in the Autumn. The proposal envisages Catalyst joining Peabody in Spring 2022, as a subsidiary.

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This update may contain certain forward-looking statements reflecting, among other things, our current views on markets, activities and prospects. Actual outcomes may differ materially. Such statements are a correct reflection of our views only on the publication date and no representation or warranty is given in relation to them, including as to their completeness or accuracy or the basis on which they were prepared.

Please contact Michaela Booth, Director of Corporate Finance on michaela.booth@chg.org.uk for further information.