GIC in joint venture to acquire UK’s third-largest purpose-built student accommodation provider

SINGAPORE sovereign wealth fund GIC announced on Monday (May 30) that it has formed a joint venture with Greystar Real Estate Partners to acquire Student Roost, the third-largest purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) provider in the UK.

Student Roost’s portfolio comprises over 23,000 beds covering key UK university cities, with a secured development pipeline of approximately 3,000 more beds.

Earlier media reports said the PBSA provider, which operates in more than 20 cities across the UK, had attracted interest from private equity and strategic bidders including Blackstone.

“We are confident that Student Roost will continue to offer high quality purpose-built student accommodation with good occupancy rates at a competitive rental price point which attracts demand from both local as well as international students,” said Lee Kok Sun, chief investment officer of real estate at GIC.

“We expect student enrolment to grow over the longer term. This will boost demand for well-located, purpose-built student accommodation,” said Tracy Stroh, head of European real estate at GIC.

“We look forward to working closely with Greystar and Student Roost to deliver value-add such as refurbishing the existing assets to continue offering attractive student accommodation in a competitive market,” she added.

GIC and Greystar will acquire the PBSA provider from one of Brookfield’s real estate private funds.

Subject to customary closing conditions, the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022.