Real Estate Finance

David Stephens, Head of London

David was appointed as Head of the London team in August 2018 and has extensive experience working across the CRE and Large Corporate client base. David has worked for the HSBC Group for 38 years across a wide variety of roles in Commercial Banking and Global Banking sector teams. The London team focuses on core investment asset classes including industrial & logistics, offices, retail and residential, as well as alternative sectors including self-storage, data centres and life science across London and Southern England.

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Siobhan Gall, Head of Regions

Siobhan leads our Regional team, with responsibility for our clients that are based in or have assets that are located across the UK regions. Her team supports clients who invest in, develop and manage properties across the core investment classes – industrial & logistics, offices, retail and residential – as well as healthcare and life science related buildings. Siobhan has over 20 years of finance experience from international banks and fund management businesses.

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Dan Wright, Head of Housing

Dan was appointed as Head of the UK Housing Team in 2022 and has extensive experience working across the Real Estate and Large Corporate client base, having worked for HSBC for 32 years. He is responsible for supporting house builders, social housing providers, the private rental sector, and student accommodation providers across the UK.

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Elizabeth Davies, Head of Hotels

Elizabeth Davies leads the Operational Hotels Real Estate Finance business. She has over 20 years of real estate finance experience including several years in restructuring. Having originally trained as a Chartered Surveyor, Elizabeth is passionate about supporting customers through the challenges of market cycles, helping them to evolve sustainably, deliver on the opportunities, and ultimately thrive.

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VIVID provides affordable homes and support services to 74,000 customers across Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire and West Sussex, with 35,000 homes in management.

With their vision of “More homes, bright futures”, the business is addressing housing shortages by building the right type of affordable homes to meet the needs of local communities.

HSBC initially met VIVID at the Social Housing Conference in 2023 and 2024 and has kept close contact ever since. In mid-2024, HSBC supported the company with a 5-year RCF to support their liquidity and capex needs as they look to continue new development alongside investing in improving the energy efficiency of existing homes.

Sustainability at VIVID Homes

VIVID realises their responsibility in delivering energy efficient and environmental improvements in all works and communities they are involved in. The company have established several aims that underpin their sustainability strategy. These are focused on:

• Reducing Carbon emissions, and
• Improving the natural environment, the quality and efficiency of their homes.¹

“HSBC UK are delighted to have been able to support VIVID with this new sustainability linked lending facility as the group press ahead with the development of new affordable housing whilst continuing to serve their existing customers and communities.”²
_{- David Whelan, Director, Social Housing Finance at HSBC}

Deal Structure

• HSBC UK provided a £100m RCF to support VIVID’s development ambitions and to provide capacity for investment in existing properties to achieve EPC and net-zero targets.
• The Sustainability Linked Loan consisted of 3 Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to support VIVID’s sustainability strategy. These KPI’s are designed to put the customer ahead of the regulatory standards and include:
  • Environmental: KPI linked to energy efficiency of homes
  • Social: KPI linked to providing income support to tenants
  • Governance: KPI linked to maintaining strong internal governance as accredited by the Regulator for Social Housing
• The documentation of an SLL was important to the company as they look to embed sustainable practices across their operations.

“It’s been a pleasure working with HSBC on a deal that showcases VIVID’s ESG credentials... The deal is keenly priced, a testament to our financial strength… We’re excited to see how this relationship can grow in the coming years.”²
_{- Duncan Brown, Chief Financial Officer, VIVID}

Today we finance a number of industries that significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. We have a strategy to help our customers to reduce their emissions and to reduce our own

¹ https://www.vividhomes.co.uk/about-us/governance/sustainability

² https://thebusinessmagazine.co.uk/property/vivid-locks-down-100m-facility-agreement-with-HSBC

³ https://www.vividhomes.co.uk/about-us/more-homes/developments