The respective boards of Liverpool Mutual Homes (LMH) and Symphony Housing Group (Symphony) have agreed to hold initial, exploratory discussions regarding a potential merger.
There is no commitment at this stage but over the next few months the organisations will jointly carry out a detailed assessment of the potential benefits that a merger could generate. This assessment will inform a decision on whether or not to proceed further.
Both organisations have a track record of investing in their communities and generating positive outcomes for residents and other key stakeholders. They are committed to constantly improving value for money and delivering more and better services to their customers.
Chief executive of LMH, Steve Coffey, said: “It is essential that we continuously look at ways of delivering better value for money so that we can invest in building new homes, improving services and delivering new services for our customers and communities.
“Whether it is helping to address the effects of austerity at a local level, or responding to the devolution agenda on both a sub-regional basis and across the North West, housing associations are ideally placed to have a positive impact upon peoples’ lives.
“Over the next few months LMH and Symphony will explore in detail whether we can have an even greater impact in the future by merging the organisations and reinforcing our shared social purpose.”
Phil Gandy, chief executive of Symphony Housing Group, added: “On the face of it, there appears to be an excellent fit between Symphony and LMH which we will test and explore further in the coming months.
“If it becomes clear that a merger will deliver real and tangible benefits for current and future tenants and communities we will look to progress the proposal and engage in detail with all of our key stakeholders.
“Improving efficiency and value for money, together with improving services, will be firmly anchored at the heart of our deliberations and will inform any decision whether to proceed.”