Ivanhoé Cambridge, Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors and Greystar Real Estate Partners have teamed up to invest €1bn in student housing and young professional real estate in Paris.
In a joint statement, the companies said the newly created develop-to-core co-living venture, majority-owned by Ivanhoé Cambridge via its UK registered arm, will target new acquisitions, including ground-up developments and projects already under construction.
The venture has already identified a pipeline of opportunities and is targeting a number of initial acquisitions over the coming months, the companies said.
Karim Habra, head of Europe and Asia-Pacific, Ivanhoé Cambridge, said: “Greater Paris and co-living markets for student and young professionals are major growth areas for our European strategy. At the same time, the COVID-19 crisis is accelerating trends towards more premium flexible products and services in key locations.
”We believe this is the right time as the ’alternative’ housing market is well positioned with these trends and Paris is highly attractive given its higher-education institutions, while there is a significant growing demand for student housing.”
Robert Koot, director European investments, Bouwinvest, said: “The fundamentals of the student and young professional market are very robust. Demand for high quality – but affordable – housing from student populations in metropolitan areas around the world remains strong.
“We have already invested in this segment in the Netherlands and Australia and via this new joint venture are now broadening our exposure and diversifying our allocation to France.”
Hideki Kurata, MD – France, Greystar, said: “We have been active in France for close to two years and have built a successful portfolio of owned and managed assets across the country.
“Our new venture with Ivanhoé Cambridge and Bouwinvest will give us significant fire power to deliver on our plans to utilise our expertise in investing, developing and operating high quality student accommodation assets across the world to build a highly amenitised portfolio from the ground up in an underserved global city with strong market fundamentals.”
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