Fresh merger plans for just-combined Bromford Flagship would add £1.5bn capacity, in 123,000-home group

Bromford Flagship, which owned and managed 82,243 homes at the end of March 2025, already has plans to deliver 2,000 new homes annually for the next 30 years, of which half would be for social rent. By 2040, that would see the Midlands-based group deliver 30,000 homes (with at least 15,000 for social rent), according to plans set out in its latest financial accounts.

LiveWest’s current business plan to 2030 is targeting the delivery of 5,000 new affordable homes and 700 open market properties in the period.

In the year to 31 March 2025, Bromford Flagship delivered 1,770 homes, of which 1,698 were for affordable tenures, while LiveWest delivered 980, of which 902 were affordable. 

If approved, the merger is expected to happen in the final quarter of 2025-26, sometime “between January and March”.

Based on figures for the latest financial year, the combined groups would have pre-tax surplus of more than £187m.

LiveWest, which owned 40,751 homes at the end of 31 March 2025, reported pre-tax surplus of £50.6m for the period at a group level. Meanwhile, Bromford Flagship’s group figure was £136.4m for the same period.

Bromford Flagship has credit ratings of A2 from Moody’s and A+ from S&P Global, while LiveWest also has a rating from Moody’s of A2.

The larger group (whose eponymous legacy organisations had both been through previous mergers before combining this year) owns three non-profit registered provider subsidiaries. These are Flagship Housing Limited, Bromford Housing Association and Merlin Housing Association (which joined the group in 2019 as part of a three-way merger between Bromford and Severn Vale Housing). The group parent, Bromford Flagship, is also a registered provider.

Bromford Flagship was given G1/V1 gradings in May 2025 – an interim grading following the merger. It has not yet been assessed for the consumer standards.

LiveWest owns one registered provider, which is the group parent: LiveWest Homes Limited. It has top gradings across all three regulatory areas: G1, V1 and a C1 given in its first consumer assessment in March.

According to an update to investors via the London Stock Exchange, the proposed structure for the merger would see LiveWest join the Bromford Flagship parent as a wholly owned subsidiary. The parent would then be renamed Bromford Flagship LiveWest Limited. The update said that the partners have agreed to enter ‘formal discussions’, with a view to create a “combined business focused on sustainable growth and investing in homes, services and communities”.

Commenting on the announcement, Robert Nettleton, chief executive of Bromford Flagship, and Paul Crawford, chief executive of LiveWest, said: “This is a truly unique and exciting opportunity for LiveWest and Bromford Flagship. By coming together, we will be unlocking capacity within both organisations, enabling us to deliver more than 50,000 much-needed homes over the next 15 years responding to the housing crisis. 

“It’s about building an organisation with the ambition and the financial capacity to continue investing in customer services, to invest in our homes and, crucially, to build desperately needed new affordable homes and places at the scale and pace that ultimately enables more customers to thrive.”

Social Housing understands that no decisions have yet been made about future structures or ways of working, and that the process and timeline for approving the merger are yet to be finalised.

Bromford Flagship has received advice on the proposed merger from Devonshires (legal) and Newbridge Advisors (finance and treasury).

Bromford Flagship has been on a fundraising drive since its merger in February. In July it issued a £300m, 25-year bond through its recently launched Euro Medium-Term Note (EMTN) programme. In April it agreed a £75m private placement.  

Meanwhile, LiveWest, which also has its own EMTN programme, ended the 2025 financial year by selling £37m of retained bonds from an earlier issuance.

Update at 5.06pm, 02.01.25: 

The article was amended to include a quote from the chief executives of LiveWest and Bromford Flagship, and to include further information supplied in response to Social Housing’s earlier queries.