Singapore’s Mapletree Investments has bought four student accommodation properties from Vita Group for £165m.
The portfolio comprises 917 beds across Exeter, Bristol, Leeds and Nottingham. Exeter’s Portland House has 156 beds, while Zed Alley in Bristol has 132. Portland Crescent, in Nottingham, offers 308 beds while Leeds’ Station Street site has 321.
Vita will operate the assets under its Vita Student brand.
Chua Tiow Chye, deputy group chief executive at Mapletree, said the deal underscores its commitment to “grow the student accommodation sector as a stable and resilient asset class, with growth anchored by strong underlying and positive demographic and student enrolment trends”.
He said: “In the aftermath of challenges faced by the sector last year during the Covid-19 pandemic, the PBSA markets in the UK and the US are experiencing robust recovery with schools reopening for face-to-face lessons in the next academic year.
“The high vaccination rates and strong student enrolment figures in these two markets have also enabled strong pre-leasing rates of student beds for the next academic year to be achieved.
“Mapletree will continue to expand its global footprint in this asset class for its attractive long-term growth prospects supported by strong fundamentals of domestic and international students’ demand.”
Mark Stott, chief executive of Vita Group, said: “In securing this deal, it provides the business with the capital and the confidence to continue to develop the Vita Group platform to thrive, with an ever-increasing future pipeline of projects.”
Mapletree’s student accommodation portfolio now consists of 55 assets, with more than 23,000 beds located across 37 cities in the UK, the US and Canada. Its assets under management total around S$4bn (£2.2bn).
About 60% of these beds are held by Mapletree’s private fund, Mapletree Global Student Accommodation Private Trust.
Savills Capital Advisors advised Vita Group on the deal.
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