LONDON’S BUSINESS NEWSPAPER
A GLITTERING EVENING ALL THE PHOTOS FROM THE ANNUAL CITY A.M. AWARDS BASH P8-10 MONDAY 6 MARCH 2023
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HOME REIT IN ESG ‘BOX TICK’ EMAIL LEAK
BELEAGUERED FUND SET FOR NEW RAFT OF QUESTIONS EXCLUSIVE
CHARLIE CONCHIE EMBATTLED property firm Home REIT and a dealmaker urged the firm’s tenants to “corroborate” dubious sustainability claims as part of an environmental, social and governance (ESG) “box ticking exercise”, City A.M. can reveal. Gareth Jones, a partner at the beleaguered social housing firm’s former investment adviser Alvarium, told property vendor Christopher Downing in August to ensure that tenants backed up its sustainability claims when quizzed by ESG analysis firm The Good Economy, which had been called in in March to compile a report on its housing stock, leaked emails seen by City A.M. reveal. After The Good Economy flagged concerns over the shoddy state of some homes leased to Home REIT tenant Serenity CIC, Jones tried to explain away the issues and told Downing to ensure that Serenity
backed up its claims if asked. Serenity was at the time run by Downing’s daughter. A private email from Jones to Downing’s personal email address read: “Hey mate – see below – this is that we’ve gone back to the ESG Auditor in relation to enquiries about some properties. Can you make sure they [Serenity CIC] get and corroborate in line if asked?” A separate email sent the previous month by Downing to a group of community interest companies, who leased properties that Downing’s property aggregation company Karla had sold to Home REIT, told tenants to put a positive spin on the homes when questioned. “Their [Home REIT’s] investors want to be told that they are ESG compliant with positive outcomes, and it is the investors that pay for their lifestyle, they Homes REIT (sic) tell us that they would like to receive such information and with notes of positive interaction and ESG compliance, and
Homes REIT funds the lifestyle of Karla and now I on behalf of Karla am asking that all of you to take this seriously, because Karla funds your lifestyle, including mine and I like my lifestyle,” Downing wrote to the tenants. “So can we stop for a second and realise how important this small box ticking exercise is within the small bubble we live in,” he added. The exchanges raise fresh questions over how much Home REIT bosses knew of the state of its housing and whether investors were misled. City A.M. can also reveal The Good Economy froze its relationship in November before publishing the report, amid questions over the stability of Home REIT’s business model and housing stock. Several of the homes queried by The Good Economy were derelict, with the firm told by Home REIT they were going to be renovated. £ CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO
A COSTLY BUSINESS Commuters to be hit by further fares increase JAMES SILVER MORE THAN a third of services are delayed, nearly one in five is cancelled and strike action continues to make services a lottery – but commuters will still be coughing up more for their journey into work after the government announced a fare increase.
Regulated fares – around 45 per cent of those on the network – will go up by 5.9 per cent, which lags inflation but will still add a significant chunk to the price of a season ticket. Last year the government agreed a 4.8 per cent hike. Passenger numbers are still behind pre-pandemic levels, putting significant stress on the business models of rail operators.
Fintechs and pension funds meet to discuss City of London growth fund EXCLUSIVE
CHARLIE CONCHIE TECH AND fintech industry chiefs have met with some of the City’s top pension funds as part of plans to create a UK “sovereign wealth fund” that could help unleash a wave of funding into the UK’s tech startups,
City A.M. can reveal. In a Square Mile meeting convened by the Lord Mayor of London Nicholas Lyons at the end of January, top pension firms including Phoenix, Aviva and L&G met with attendees including the fintech industry body Innovate Finance and big four firm EY to
discuss pooling institutional capital in a £50bn private-sector led fund that would mimic the role of a “sovereign wealth fund”, City A.M. has learned. Pension consultants and top trustees were also in attendance at the meeting as tech leaders looked to convince the pensions industry to
throw its weight behind growth investments. The meeting is understood to be the first of a number of planned sessions this year as Lyons looks to galvanise support for plans for a ‘future growth fund’. When approached for comment, a spokesperson for the City of London
Corporation told City A.M. that “we need to ensure that highgrowth companies... don’t feel that they must leave our shores in order to grow”. A source at the meeting said that pension managers were “positive” in the discussions but said there was still a “mindset” issue.
INSIDE ARM WAVES GOODBYE TO LONDON P3 TAKEOVER RUMOURS LOOM OVER M&G P5 TO EV OR NOT TO EV? THE UK’S ELECTRIC DILEMMA P11 TRAVEL: VIVA LAS VEGAS P16