Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI) has invested £119.7m (€151m) in the refinancing of a UK student accommodation project.
The investment, at the University of Exeter, is the first for AllianzGI’s UK Infrastructure Debt Fund and its debut in the student housing sector.
AllianzGI, which is looking to invest £3bn in UK infrastructure in the next three to five years, launched its infrastructure debt fund in June this year.
Paul David, director of infrastructure debt at AllianzGI, said there is ”significant” undersupply of student accommodation in the UK.
The Exeter facilities, completed in 2012 and comprising 2,600 student rooms, are the seventh long-term university concession in the portfolio of project sponsor UPP Group. Allianz GI said the investment was structured as a private placement under UPP’s existing listed bond programme and will be used to replace existing bank debt.
In July, Allianz GI bought £130m of bonds on the Northern Ireland DBFO2 public-private partnership for third-party investors including UK pension funds and Allianz group entities. In the same month, Nippon Life, an Allianz shareholder since 2011, committed £57m to the new fund.
Earlier this year, the Telent pension fund became the first UK scheme to enter an infrastructure debt platform using listed project bonds, using Allianz GI to invest in Scotland’s motorway improvements scheme.
Over the last year, AllianzGI has invested in infrastructure assets, university accommodation and greenfield and brownfield roads in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The firm said it has now committed capital for a 63,000km electricity network, 210km of motorways, 79 bridges, 80,000sqm of government accommodation, a 4,200km gas network, 2,600 student rooms, three tunnels and a viaduct.
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