Cairn Homes : Announces Completion of New €277.5 million Sustainability Linked Facility

Cairn Homes plc has completed a refinancing of its €277.5 million syndicate facility into a sustainability linked term loan and revolving credit facility with AIB, Bank of Ireland and Barclays Bank Ireland. Following the refinance, the Company is maintaining its total debt facilities at €350 million.

This is the largest sustainability linked loan facility of its type arranged in the Irish home building sector. The term loan and revolving credit facility interest rates are linked to Cairn meeting certain sustainability performance targets aligned to its sustainability strategy. The sustainability performance targets are in respect of Cairn's decarbonisation, biodiversity and its people strategy.

Specifically, the targets include:

• An annual reduction of Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions benchmarked to the Science-Based Targets Initiative.
• Publication of Scope 3 baseline data in the 2022 Annual Report with subsequent publication of Scope 3 reduction targets.
• Increasing annual targets for biodiversity net gain across our new development commencements as measured as a percentage of overall units commenced. Biodiversity net gain delivers measurable improvements for ecology by protecting, enhancing and creating habitats in association with development. Cairn's approach favours on-site habitat protection, enhancement or creation wherever possible.
• Annual increases in graduate and trainee enrolment in Cairn as a percentage of overall employment in 2022 through to 2025.

Announcing the new sustainability linked facility, Shane Doherty, CFO of Cairn Homes plc, said:

"As homebuilders, we have an obligation to the thousands of families and people who have and will chose a newly built, energy efficient and A-rated Cairn home to prioritise sustainability in the delivery of each and every home we build. As part of Cairn's sustainability strategy, we have sought to structure and importantly align our syndicate financing in a manner that will drive our sustainability ambitions and today's announcement is the culmination of that objective. Our new €277.5 million facility is tied to the delivery of material and stretching sustainability targets and as a business which has sold over 6,000 new homes since 2016, we are delighted that our funding partners in AIB, Bank of Ireland and Barclays have the same critical focus on sustainability which we have."

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