Centurion to acquire second student dorm in Nottingham for £15.1m
Singapore
DORMITORY developer Centurion Corp has agreed to buy a 177-bed student accommodation asset in the British city of Nottingham for £15.1 million (about S$26.98 million).
The asset, dwell Archer House, located at 14-22 Castle Gate, is in the city centre, and near the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University.
It is also within walking distance to dwell Castle Gate Haus, Centurion's first purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) asset in Nottingham, which it bought for £10.2 million in 2018.
The freehold dwell Archer House, which Centurion will manage under its "dwell" brand, comprises 93 studios and 84 ensuite rooms. According to the company, it had achieved 100 per cent occupancy over the course of 2019 and continues to enjoy full occupancy for the current academic year 2019/20.
The purchase price took into account a £15.15 million valuation by Cushman and Wakefield UK conducted on Dec 5. For the nine months ended Sept 30, the property posted a profit before tax, minority interests and extraordinary items of £543,000.
The acquisition, which is expected to be completed this month, will increase Centurion's total student and workers accommodation portfolio to 33 assets globally, and its number of beds under management to 65,133. Within the UK, Centurion will operate about 2,852 beds across 11 student accommodation assets in five cities.
Matt Bowen, head of student property research at Knight Frank UK, said both UK domiciled and international full-time students in Nottingham have increased by over 13 per cent between 2016 and 2019, outstripping the rest of the UK as a whole. "This growth, representing an additional 6,690 students, has not been matched by new PBSA provision, with just 1,100 new bed spaces added to supply over the same period," said Mr Bowen.
Centurion added that the current supply and pipeline of student housing in Nottingham can accommodate just 44.4 per cent of the total student population there, with 55.6 per cent of unmet demand.
Centurion chief executive Kong Chee Min said in a statement: "Our student accommodation portfolio in the UK has continued to benefit from the positive supply-demand dynamics of the student accommodation sector, and Nottingham is one of the key cities that we are keen to expand.
"dwell Castle Gate Haus has achieved close to full occupancy in the current academic year and we expect dwell Archer House to similarly perform well. We will manage both assets with the same team on-site, allowing us to enjoy economies of scale."
Centurion's student accommodation business segment has a presence in Singapore, Australia, Korea, the UK and the US. BT reported last month that the company plans to grow the number of student accommodation assets in its existing markets, while looking for new markets to venture into. For its workers' accommodation business - which operates under its Westlite banner - Centurion sees growth opportunities arising from Malaysia in the near to mid-term.
In November, Centurion posted a 21 per cent rise in Q3 net profit to S$8.8 million for the three months ended Sept 30, while revenue increased 17 per cent to S$33.1 million.
Singapore-listed Centurion also has a dual listing on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. On the Singapore bourse, the counter closed at 43 Singapore cents on Monday, down one cent.
