Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) and Kennedy Wilson’s recently established UK single-family rental housing venture has invested £213m (€254.6m) in three deals, acquiring more than 650 housing units.
Kennedy Wilson said the assets were acquired from three separate housebuilders across seven development sites in the UK, bringing the joint venture to over 900 homes.
The venture has exchanged on units at seven additional sites across the UK, including with Wavensmere Homes, Barratt Redrow and Cala Homes, Kennedy Wilson said, adding that it currently has an active pipeline of opportunities totalling over 1,000 units, with the capacity to reach 4,000 units at full capital deployment.
In October last year, CPP Investments committed an initial £500m to the investment venture formed in partnership with Kennedy Wilson.
The Canadian fund holds a 90% interest in the venture, while Kennedy Wilson will commit £56m to become a 10% shareholder and will target new-build housing stock.
At the time when the partnership was formed – with an initial target asset value of approximately £1bn including leverage – the companies said it had been seeded with properties from two developments sourced by Kennedy Wilson. The seed assets comprise units currently under construction by Barratt Redrow in Norwich.
Mike Pegler, president of Kennedy Wilson Europe, said: “In the short space of three months, we have successfully executed on our pipeline and amassed a portfolio of over 900 units across the UK, establishing ourselves as one of the most active players in the UK single-family rental housing sector.
“We are seeing strong appetite from leading housebuilders to form new partnerships and strengthen existing relationships as they look to make ‘build to rent’ housing a key strategic pillar within their businesses. As a result, we have benefitted from a number of repeat deals which have significantly increased our pipeline, enabling the partnership to continue deploying capital at speed and scale.”
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