A UK residential property joint venture between PGGM and Legal & General Capital has completed its first deal.
The Dutch pension fund manager and Legal & General Capital are looking to invest £600m (€790m) in the UK’s private-rented sector (PRS), as reported last month.
A cleared development site in Bristol has been bought for £4.8m from Square Bay.
The site, which has planning consent for 168 units, will be built and managed by L&G’s Real Assets arm.
Completion is due in 2018.
Michael Barrie, director of fund management at LGIM Real Assets, said the asset was in a “strong micro location” close to transport infrastructure.
“The demographics of the local population are also well suited to the Build to Rent product – being heavily weighted to young, multi-skilled professionals,” he said.
PGGM and L&G are aiming to build 3,000 homes in the UK.
Developments in Salford and Walthamstow have also been used to seed the partnership.
The presence in Bristol of companies including PWC, Osborne Clarke, Burges Salmon and RBS also attracted the partnership to the city.
Mathieu Elshout, real estate investment director at PGGM, recently said investing in residential was the “perfect long-term real estate investment”, as it provides “relatively high income security and diversification relative to other sectors”.
