Spain: Amro Partners and Falco Capital have refinanced four operational PBSA assets in Spain via a €70 million investment loan from Nuveen Real Estate.
The assets, in Madrid, Valencia, Seville and Pamplona, total 1,055 student beds. Amro Seville, which opened in 2022, was Europe’s first PBSA project to be awarded BREEAM Outstanding, WiredScore Platinum and Fitwel 3* certification, followed by Valencia, Madrid and Pamplona which opened in 2023 achieving the same ESG standards.
Managed under the Amro Estudiantes student housing brand, all four assets are performing strongly and the portfolio is forecast to be fully stabilised by the 2024/25 academic year.
Raj Kotecha, chairman and CEO of Amro Partners, said: “We are absolutely delighted to begin a relationship with Nuveen, who have proven to be very knowledgeable about the European student housing sector. We share a strong commitment to creating best-in-class green assets that set a new industry benchmark for sustainability. European student housing assets continue to perform well in terms of occupancy and rental growth and we are seeing green shoots of recovery in investment activity within the sector following the challenging markets of 2022 and 2023. We are looking forward to scaling up our living sector portfolios during 2024.”
Karolina Wojtowicz, director at Nuveen Real Estate, added: “This facility aligns with our focus as a firm, as we continue to grow exposure to the housing sector in core European markets. The fundamentals of the PBSA market in southern Europe are particularly favourable and we are proud to provide a green loan that supports a portfolio with strong ESG credentials. We expect to continue strengthening our relationship with Amro Partners who have demonstrated a stellar track record with this high quality, stabilised portfolio.”
Amro Partners aims to become a significant player in the European living sector over the coming years, building on its track record of 25 transactions to date in the UK, Spain and Portugal. It has an existing actionable pipeline of more than 5,000 student beds.
Amro Partners and Falco Capital were advised by EastDil Secured and Cushman & Wakefield. Nuveen Real Estate was advised by CMS.
