Merger talks on to create one of England's largest housing groups

Published by Max Salsbury for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Communities, Finance

Cosmopolitan Housing Group has begun merger talks with The Riverside Group - which if successful would create one of England's largest housing associations.

Cosmopolitan - which has reportedly been suffering from financial difficulties - has approached Riverside about the possibility of merging to create a joint stock of 68,000 homes.

According to data supplied in August 2011 by the now defunct Tenant Services Authority, such a move would birth the second biggest HA in England, just behind Sanctuary's stock of 70,888.

Earlier in the year, Cosmopolitan handed back money from an affordable home grant given to it by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). The landlord said at the time that it had been "too ambitious" with the original bid and was slashing commitment by a third. The HCA then moved to find other developers to willing to take over Cosmopolitan's contract to build 1,058 homes.

In a joint statement, Riverside and Cosmopolitan said that they are "exploring the potential benefits to their tenants of working together as part of the Riverside group".

Most of Cosmopolitan's stock is in Merseyside and Cheshire, where more than a third of Riverside's properties reside.

Riverside’s chief executive, Carol Matthews, said:  “We are the right type of organisation to partner Cosmopolitan. We have financial strength and considerable experience of successfully bringing other housing associations into our group. Cosmopolitan’s stock complements our profile really well. Together we will both be stronger as businesses and better able to serve our customers. I’m looking forward to welcoming them and their tenants into the Riverside family.”

Cosmopolitan's chief executive, John Denny, added: “The interests of the communities that we are here to work alongside must always be our first priority. Our organisations are both people focused and geographically aligned. Through joining Riverside we could reinforce our commitment to customers at a time when, for many reasons, it is most needed. We are working hard to try and achieve a great future as part of Riverside.”