Europa Generation, a joint venture between Europa Capital and Generation Estates has raised close to £100m (€117m) for its UK student accommodation fund launched in 2017.

The Europa Generation Student Fund, which already has £180m in assets under management, has held a first close by bringing in a number of unnamed global institutional investors.

The fund was established nearly two years ago when pan-European real estate fund manager Europa Capital used its balance sheet capital to seed it with a £165m portfolio.

Generation Estates, which has created student housing platforms with other real estate investors, including The Carlyle Group and Blackstone, operates the 1,561 beds in Bath, Newcastle, Sheffield, Aberdeen and Bournemouth.

The fund has a further 144 beds in Oxford that are due to become operational this summer.

Europa Capital said that by establishing a portfolio of modern purpose-built student accommodation in UK cities, Europa Generation’s strategy looks to exploit favourable market dynamics and deliver a sustainable and growing income return to investors.

Tim Turnbull, partner at Europa Generation, said there were limited opportunities for institutional investors to access the purpose-build student housing market through funds.

“Therefore, our ambition is to scale the Europa Generation platform, broaden our investor base and to grow the Student Fund’s portfolio throughout the UK,” he said.

Alan Artus, partner at Europa Generation, added: “The student accommodation sector remains a highly attractive market that is resilient to economic headwinds and continues to offer favourable supply and demand dynamics.

“The shortage of modern, high quality accommodation in leading university towns and cities is demonstrated by the strong level of demand we have seen across our operational portfolio.”

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