Bond issue secures Greenwich future

Greenwich University has secured Pounds 30 million to transform the Royal Naval College through a high-powered international finance deal unique in higher education.

The university has banked the proceeds from the sale of Pounds 30 million worth of bonds issued by the Royal Bank of Canada Dominion Securities Ltd. The bonds were underwritten by the RBC and United States company Ambac Insurance. They have a maximum life of 30 years, which is the length of time the university has to pay back their value plus interest.

Unlike conventional university borrowing, the money is not dependent on property as security. Instead, it was offered on the strength of Greenwich's business at the time of issue and the annual interest payments are fixed at 6.36 per cent.

Greenwich deputy vice-chancellor John McWilliam, who helped mastermind the deal along with finance director Roy Denton, said: "We had to find a secure and cost-effective way of raising money. The beauty of this is that it does not matter if the value of our properties falls and on top of this we secured a good and fixed rate of interest."

The university also stands to make an undisclosed amount by reinvesting the Pounds 30 million in a short-term high interest acccount. The money will be used to convert the college and adjoining Dreadnought Hospital to modern academic and teaching use. The first students are expected in autumn next year.

Mr McWilliam has blazed something of a trail in his seven years as deputy vice-chancellor of Greenwich University.

His success in improving the ageing and scattered building stock of the former Thames Polytechnic has been achieved during a period of budgetary constraint. He has shown himself adept at finding less orthodox funding solutions. The first major example was his pursuit of a public-private funding scheme that pre-dated the government's private finance initiative.

As a result, Greenwich's Avery Hill student accommodation, opened two years ago, became the first higher education building constructed under PFI.

When he arrived, plans to secure the Royal Naval College were well advanced. Against all the odds, mainly establishment snobbery, Mr McWilliam managed to secure Greenwich the lion's share of the historic site.

His novel approach to finance owes much to his training as a quantity surveyor.

He worked for nine years in the profession, starting as a junior surveyor in Leeds in 1959. His approach to solving accommodation problems for Greenwich owes a lot to his knowledge of the value of property and purchasing procedures.

He joined Glamorgan Polytechnic as a lecturer in 1968 and, after a spell as a principal lecturer at Leeds Polytechnic, he joined Thames Polytechnic in 1979.

He was dean of the faculty of the built environment, assistant director (resources), deputy director (strategy) and deputy vice-chancellor when the polytechnic gained university status.

His property expertise has gained him posts with the higher and further education funding councils and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

He is an academic auditor for the Quality Assurance Agency, was chairman of the board of governors at Lewisham College and is either member or chairman of a number of companies.