One of the City’s most prominent financiers will on Thursday be named as the new chief executive of Heylo, a fast-growing provider of affordable housing across the UK.
Sky News has learnt that Andrew Geczy, whose most recent position was as CEO of Terra Firma Capital Partners, the private equity firm, will be appointed to the role with a mandate to accelerate Heylo’s expansion.
Heylo owns Home Reach, a provider of shared-ownership housing that has so far delivered 4,000 properties across the country.
Backed by major local authority pension funds and insurers, Heylo has already raised hundreds of millions of pounds to fund its growth.
Sources said on Wednesday night that Mr Geczy was likely to embark on an ambitious fundraising to deliver thousands more homes at a time when the shortage of affordable housing is an increasingly explosive political issue.
Figures show that just 29% of under-35 year-olds now own their homes, compared with 65% during the 1990s.
Heylo has assembled boards across its various entities packed with prominent figures, including Nick Raynsford, the former housing minister, and Grenville Turner, the former boss of estate agent Countrywide.
The company aims to double its delivery of affordable homes this year, with its part-buy, part-tent model attracting significant demand from institutional investors.
Mr Geczy will replace Nicholas McAlpine-Lee, Heylo’s chief executive for the last five years.
A veteran of the financial services industry, Mr Geczy’s previous jobs include having been chief executive of wholesale banking and markets at Lloyds Banking Group and 14 years at Citigroup.
More recently, he was chief executive of international and institutional banking at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.
Mr Geczy was appointed by the Terra Firma founder Guy Hands three years ago to help restore its credibility after a bruising period resulting from the loss of its EMI investment and a series of subsequent legal battles.
Under Mr Geczy’s stewardship, Terra Firma has generated strong returns from investments including through the €1.3bn (£1.1bn) disposal of RTR, a solar energy platform.
It has also restructured the finances of Annington, a vast landlord to the Ministry of Defence, which is widely expected to be sold in the next couple of years.
Mr Geczy left Terra Firma in April after a bust-up with Mr Hands.
Neither Heylo nor Mr Geczy could be reached for comment.
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