AXA IM Alts has secured €660m in third-party capital for its European Student Accommodation Strategy (ESAS), nearly doubling the strategy’s total committed equity.
The asset manager said the additional capital was secured from new international institutional and sovereign-wealth investors, bringing the total amount raised for ESAS to €1.3bn, without disclosing details of the investors.
AXA said it has seeded ESAS with The Boost Society, a student housing and co-living platform formed in October 2019 through the acquisition of Kley Group and rebranded in 2023.
In a separate announcement, Norges Bank Investment Management said it had agreed to acquire a 40% interest in the €1.3bn AXA IM Alts-managed platform holding student housing and co-living assets in France and Spain.
The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund said it will invest €240m for the stake in AXA Lifestyle Housing, the owner of The Boost Society. ESAS will retain the remaining 60% of the portfolio of 42 assets, which has approximately €600m in debt.
AXA said ESAS will target acquisitions of existing assets, ground-up developments and office-to-residential conversions through direct asset and platform investments.
The strategy aims to develop ESAS into a portfolio of approximately €3bn in purpose-built student accommodation and co-living assets by 2031.
Timothee Rauly, global co-head of real estate at AXA IM Alts, said: “The European student housing market continues to benefit from a number of structural demographic and societal tailwinds, which have underpinned its resilience during the recent period of economic volatility.
“Having proven the ESAS concept by establishing The Boost Society as a leading, high-quality multi-branded student and co-living portfolio since acquiring KLEY in 2019, it is a natural next step to bring in third-party capital to accelerate the platform’s growth and capitalise on the sector’s compelling fundamentals.”
Florence Dard, global head of client group at AXA IM Alts, said: “The €660m of third-party capital commitments we have raised from European and Asian pension and sovereign-wealth funds for ESAS reflect the quality of the seed portfolio and AXA IM Alts’ strong track record of acquiring, growing and managing alternative real estate platforms such as ESAS.
“This new capital will help drive our ambitions to grow ESAS into a €3bn PBSA and co-living platform by 2031.”
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