UK: PGIM Real Estate has acquired six PBSA assets from Unite Group for £184 million.
The portfolio consists of just under 3,000 beds, located in Birmingham, Cardiff, Leicester, Liverpool, Nottingham and Sheffield.
PGIM Real Estate intends to conduct a rolling refurbishment programme across the portfolio to modernise the accommodation. The refurbishment programme will also enable material improvements to sustainability and energy efficiency via initiatives including passive measures (building fabric) that minimise the energy demand, refurbishment of plant to provide more energy efficient services and the introduction of on-site renewable energy sources.
Generation Partners has been appointed as asset and development manager for the project and Now Student Living will operate the portfolio. Part of Generation, Now Student Living now has 22 properties within its portfolio.
Tobias Waldschmidt, senior portfolio manager of European core plus strategy at PGIM Real Estate, said: “In the current market environment, it’s rare to find a stabilised portfolio with high-quality yielding assets located in key regional cities. We believe the UK PBSA sector has strong underlying fundamentals as demand for student housing is only set to increase with more students applying for university. We are confident that, together with Generation Partners, we can add value to this portfolio on behalf of our investors, whilst delivering a secure stable income stream from day one.”
Alan Artus, chief executive of Generation Partners, said: “Generation is excited to be working in partnership with PGIM Real Estate on this portfolio in conjunction with our recently established operational management arm, Now Student Living. The opportunity to upgrade these assets to provide high quality PBSA whilst still appealing to a broad student demographic is an exciting challenge and we look forward to working with PGIM to deliver our joint objectives.”
Paul Watson, co-founder and managing director of Now Student Living, added: “Now Student Living are enthused to be working with PGIM on this exciting new venture. This portfolio represents a selection of well located, well provisioned PBSA residences that are ideally suited to serve a broad range of domestic and international students looking for affordable, well managed accommodation throughout their time studying in leading University cities. Now Student Living was formed in 2023 from a desire to deliver a better service both for students and for our strategic investment partners, and this portfolio takes our beds under management to circa 10,000 across the UK and Ireland, allowing us to further build on our approach which has already led to our achieving Gold Investor In Student accreditation.”
The acquisition was made on behalf of PGIM Real Estate’s European core plus strategy, and the transaction was originated by James Wright in the UK equity team.
