Student Roost, a UK-based manager and developer of student accommodation, is owned by Brookfield Real Estate Strategic Partners II, a fund managed by Brookfield Asset Management.
As reported by EG in November last year, the investor is paying around £520m – a circa 5.5% yield – for the properties.
The portfolio includes 15 properties in 12 university towns and cities, six of which are new markets for Student Roost.
UK’s fourth-largest PBSA provider
The purchase increases Student Roost’s bed numbers to more than 16,400 across 43 properties, making it the fourth-largest PBSA provider in the UK.
The company, which launched a new brand, Birdbox, in November 2017, has a development pipeline of a further seven properties.
Curlew Student Trust was launched in 2013 as a seven-year fund, with three seed assets, backed by clients of CBRE Global Investment Partners and managed by Curlew Alternative Asset Management.
The fund’s strategy to acquire and forward-fund high-quality, purpose-built student accommodation has been successful with CST seeing significant growth, expanding to 20 assets (6,254 beds) with a further five assets (1,014 beds) due to be completed for the start of the 2018-19 academic year.
Given the strong performance of the fund and the fulfilment of its objectives to date, a decision to sell around 75% of the portfolio was taken.
CST is retaining around 25% of its total portfolio and this will continue to be managed by Curlew.
Second fund launched
Following the success of CST, CBRE Global Investment Partners and Curlew have launched a second venture in the UK student accommodation sector, Curlew Student Trust 2 (CST2).
CST 2 will follow a similar strategy to its predecessor fund and already has two seed assets, providing 917 beds, under offer for delivery in 2020. The follow-on fund also has an active pipeline.
Student Roost chief executive Tim Butler said: “This acquisition represents a continuation of our strategy of delivering affordable, high-quality PBSA to the UK’s leading university towns and cities.
“The sector is maturing, and entering an era of competition and greater customer service expectations. The scale on which we now operate, the quality of our properties and our value proposition all mean we’re well placed to do well in the new environment.”
Curlew Student Trust was advised by Savills, CMS and PwC.
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