Cain International and PGIM Real Estate are providing a £190m (€221.17m) loan to fund a UK build-to-rent (BTR) development.
Cain will provide £148m in financing with PGIM Real Estate providing an additional £43m to finance Vita Group’s 500,000sqft Union BTR project in Manchester.
The Union project is located within a wider £1bbn redevelopment site known as St John’s.
Union will create 1,676 beds, comprising of 1,545 private rented beds and 131 affordable beds over two tower blocks with a mix of studios, duos, trios and quad apartments. Tower 1 is expected to complete in Spring 2024 and Tower 2 is expected to complete in the Summer of 2025.
The St John’s master plan will offer 320 hotel bedrooms, 560,000sqft of office space, 240,000sqft of retail and 13 acres of public realm upon completion in 2025.
Mark Stott, Vita Group CEO said having financial partners Cain and PGIM Real Estate on board with this project ensures Vita can focus on future developments and growth opportunities.
Graham Keable, principal at Cain International, said: “We have been steadily increasing our exposure to key UK markets in recent years, as we find the fundamentals supporting higher education and BTR in UK cities to be highly attractive for our strategy. To that end, we are really pleased to sign our first deal in Manchester.”
This loan builds on the expansion of Cain’s debt offering to key regional cities in the UK, now totalling more than £320m with Vita, Cain funding also includes schemes in Warwick, Coventry and Cardiff having first partnered with the group in 2020.
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