Ardian and Rockfield‘s European student housing investment venture has acquired a 1,209-bed portfolio in the Netherlands from Nido Living, a European student accommodation platform.
The partnership has invested an unspecified amount to acquire the Muse in Maastricht and More in Leiden, calling it one of the largest purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) transactions in the Netherlands by gross asset value (GAV).
The Muse and More transaction follows earlier acquisitions in Florence, Bologna, Amsterdam, Milan and Barcelona, bringing total capital deployed to over €600m GAV just nine months after launch, with a secured pipeline expected to raise the total to over €1bn across Europe.
Bernd Haggenmüller, senior managing director real estate at Ardian, said: “The strong fundraising activity in our strategy is testament to the attractivity of PBSA as an investment. High tenant demand meets a limited supply of residential space, which ensures rapid letting, high occupancy rates and correspondingly robust yields.
“Our focus on green buildings ensures the investments are future-proof and cost-effective in operation. Given the fast expansion and diversification of our portfolio, we are well on track to becoming one of Europe’s leading players in the highly dynamic PBSA market.”
Sebastian Zwart, senior director investments and development at Rockfield, said: “Muse and More is the second large acquisition of our strategy in a short period in the Netherlands, following the acquisition of Minervahaven in Amsterdam in May 2025. Muse and More have recently been completed and offer affordable rents to tenants, whilst adhering to the highest standards when it comes to sustainability.
“For this reason, these assets are important cornerstones in our evergreen platform which is aimed to be the leading one across Europe. The assets deliver high occupancy rates and income security, in prime, highly undersupplied PBSA markets”.
The transaction is the latest investment for the CBRE Investment Management-backed Ardian and Rockfield partnership.
The sale by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s student accommodation platform Nido is in line with its strategy to increase investment, development and operational activities in Iberia, Germany and Italy.
Capital from this sale will be reinvested into the German and Italian markets, where Nido plans to establish a presence soon, having already assembled teams in those countries.
Carlo Matta, CEO of Nido Living, said: “This opportunistic sale underpins Nido’s strategy to grow in continental Europe as we will redeploy capital into Germany and Italy in the very near future alongside completing on our acquisition of Livensa and mobilising those 9,000 beds.
“Our assets in The Netherlands have been designed, developed and managed with value creation and strong income in mind as well as the delivery of an exemplary student experience and, as such, we were able to exit very strongly which will support our activities going forwards.”
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