Investment firm KKR and Round Hill Capital have partnered to invest in a mixed student and residential housing development in the Netherlands.
The joint venture has acquired a 3.1-hectare site to develop the housing scheme in Utrecht alongside Stadium Capital Partners.
The partners said the project has been acquired from Ontwikkelings Combinatie Oudenrijn for an undisclosed sum.
The project will be built by Wessels Rijssen and Veluwezoom Verkerk Bouw.
As part of the project, 23 storey buildings will be built to provide 577 purpose-built student accommodation beds. In addition, 173 residential apartments will be built on the site targeted at young professionals.
On completion of construction, the student accommodation will be managed by The Nido Collection, Round Hill’s operational platform.
This is KKR and Round Hill’s first student housing transaction in the Netherlands.
Michael Bickford, a founder and CEO of Round Hill Capital, said: “This high-quality student and residential housing development scheme, our first student housing scheme in the Netherlands, will help to meet the continuing growing demand for housing within Utrecht.”
Bickford said Round Hill remains committed to making further (re)development investments in the Netherlands and across wider Europe, whilst also continuing to look to make more investments in residential property in line with its existing strategy and growth plans.
Round Hill is currently funding a pipeline of over 7,000 student accommodation beds across the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
Seb d’Avanzo, a director at KKR, said: “This is a high-quality development in an excellent location, and we see significant upside potential in the Netherlands, a market which exhibits strong growth drivers for student housing.
KKR’s European real estate platform has a successful track record in executing partnership deals, and this acquisition represents an exciting first step in KKR’s partnership with Round Hill Capital, he said.
“We look forward to working with them to expand our footprint in student accommodation and residential housing in select European markets.”
KKR’s investment was made through its Real Estate European Partners fund.
