GIC joint venture buys US student housing portfolio for US$1.1b
Singapore
The joint venture formed by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and The Scion Group has acquired a student housing portfolio in the United States for approximately US$1.1 billion.
The portfolio consists of 24 assets located in 20 university campus markets across the US, comprising 13,666 beds.
The transaction includes the acquisition of 22 properties from affiliates of Harrison Street Real Estate Capital and the recapitalisation of two communities previously owned by Scion-affiliated private syndications.
CPPIB and GIC each own a 45 per cent stake in the newly-acquired portfolio and Scion owns the remaining 10 per cent.
"As a long-term investor, we are pleased to acquire this quality portfolio with good cash yields. We remain confident in the student housing sector, and in our partnership with Scion and CPPIB which has enabled us to scale-up quickly our US student housing portfolio," said GIC Real Estate chief investment officer Lee Kok Sun.
"We will continue to work closely with our partners to pursue value opportunities in the US."
Separately, GIC and Goldman Sachs Asset Management's Vintage Funds have emerged as the biggest limited partners in two Vector Capital funds.
This comes after a US$450 million restructuring of funds managed by the private equity firm, which specialises in transformational investments in established technology businesses.
The funds - Vector Capital's Fund II and Fund III - have been restructured to provide more liquidity for the funds' investors and as a value-enhancing strategy for investors.
In particular, the restructuring enhances investments made in Corel, a Canadian software company specialising in graphics processing, and WatchGuard, which specialises in cyber-security. Together, the firms make up the majority of the remaining assets in Funds II and III.
