A €1.3 bn student housing platform in Spain is the largest in a string of living properties coming for sale.

US asset management giant Brookfield is believed to have hired Morgan Stanley and Eastdil Secured to sell the Livensa Living portfolio of 22 student housing facilities in Spain. The portfolio, consisting of around 9,000 beds, has an average asset age of around four years and is concentrated in Iberia’s top university cities. It is expected to fetch around €1.3 bn.

A spokesperson for Brookfield declined to comment.

Brookfield was an early mover in building scale PBSA platforms in Europe with integrated operations. It invested in UK business Student Roost in 2016 before entering the Iberian market in 2019 when it bought Livensa. It was then able to grow the Spanish platform from five operating assets five years ago to 22 with over 9,000 beds including active developments.

The asset manager currently manages more than 30,000 student beds in continental Europe.

Also this week, Harris Associates has brought The Fourth Yard Central London PBSA consented land site to market. Designed by architects FaulknerBrowns, the £75 mln (€89 mln) PBSA development has 144 bedrooms, 361 m2 of state-of-the-art amenities, including resident lounges, a gym and safe-cycle storage for 122 bicycles.

Other asset sales this week include Savills marketing a 230-home coliving scheme in Leeds and Knight Frank looking for a forward funder for the 272-home Crown Gardens project in Woking, near London, for £110 mln (€130 mln).

Meanwhile, alternative lenders have been incredible active signing off several big-ticket loans across Europe. Värde Partners refinanced Banco Santander’s stake in a portfolio of three luxury hotels in Spain with a €225 mln financing facility while Maslow Capital and LaSalle IM financed two development projects respectively in Manchester and Birmingham. Maslow funded the Vivere Residences development which will feature a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments, alongside five penthouses and LaSalle IM financed delivery by the Vita Group of a 540-bed PBSA scheme in central Birmingham.

‘We like lending against student housing assets in the UK where we see a lot of supply demand imbalance,’ commented Dave White, managing director at LaSalle in the Debt Investments team.

The “recently completed deals” section features over 30 transactions this week including a dozen three digit deals. In Paris, private equity firm Ardian has taken a majority stake in an €837 mln portfolio of three trophy assets while AustralianSuper has acquired a 50% share in M7 Real Estate, the 730,000 m2 European logistics property platform, with a view to grow the business to €4.5 bn in three to five years.

In Italy, ICG Real Estate teamed up with Garbe to seal one of the largest grocery store portfolio deals of the past few years. The two investors acquired a 22-property strong Coop portfolio for €222 mln.

 

Recently completed deals       
Asset Asset type Location Buyer Vendor Size Price (mln) Key facts
Hôtel de Nocé at 26, place Vendôme, and two buildings on avenue Montaigne, at 35-37 and 56 mixed Paris Ardian, Kering Kering NA €837 Ardian will hold a stake of 60% in the portfolio, while Kering is retaining 40% of the ownership.
5,200 residential units living Germany GTC Peach Property 5,200 units €448 The acquisition was funded through €185 mln of bank loans and a new senior secured loan for €190 mln from two debt funds.
50% stake in M7 Real Estate logistics Europe AustralianSuper Oxford Properties 730,000 m2 €420 AustralianSuper and Oxford aim to grow the venture to €4.5 billion in three to five years.
Pflegen & Wohnen portfolio living Germany HGV Deutsche Wohnen 2,400 nursing places €380 The portfolio includes 13 nursing homes.
Coop Italian retail grocery portfolio retail Italy ICG Real Estate, GRR GARBE Retail Coop Alleanza 3.0 140,000 m2 €222 The sale-and-leaseback transaction involves 22 super- and hypermarkets.
11-12 James Square office London The Lawrence J Ellison Revocable Trust Chinese Estates 82,024 ft2 €192 (£162) The building is almost entirely vacant and it is understood Ellison is buying it for occupation by one of his businesses.
Purfleet distribution unit logistics Purfleet, East London Valor, Quadreal NA 630,000 ft2 £130 (€154) The cross-docked distribution centre on Dolphin Park is let to Tesco, with nine years remaining to lease expiry.
25% stake in Centrum Cerny Most retail Prague Upvest and RSJ Investments URW 85,000 m2 €138 The buyers have an option to acquired another 25% of the mall within two years.
five assets logistics Sweden SLP Barings 153,000 m2 €122 (SEK1400) PostNord rents three of the assets, while two are rented by Yokohama and Mitsubishi.
Move Blue office Frankfurt Strabag Hold Estate Siemens 24,400 m2 €120 Siemens has signed a 15-year lease on the asset.
former Renault industrial site logistics Vilvoorde, Belgium WDP Alcopa 19 hectares €100 Plans are to completely redevelop the site.
Ynglingen 10 mixed Stockholm Stadsrum Fastigheter Fabege 11,000 m2 €84 (SEK 960) The sale is part of Fabege’s strategy of focusing on selected expansive market areas.
eight development projects living Alcorcón, Spain Culmia NA 23,000 m2 €73 The buyer, owned by Oaktree, plans to develop 750 homes on the site.
purpose-built single-family rental (SFR) home portfolio living UK Greykite European Real Estate Fund I, Gatehouse IM Persimmon Homes 6 sites £60 (€71) The two partners recently launched a £750 mln UK single-family rental JV.
logistics property in Hyvinkää logistics Finland Swiss Life Asset Managers Nordic Savills IM 47,000 m2 €60 The property serves as the central warehouse in Finland for Ahlsell, a leading Nordic technical wholesaler.
two logistics warehouses logistics Orleans, France M&G Real Estate NA 54,000 m2 €49 The first warehouse located in Meung sur Loire is fully preleased to DHL and the second one is in Poupry.
residential real estate projects living Copenhagen, Odense - Denmark Fredensborg 32 Heimstaden 591 units €45 (DKK 849) The transaction is expected to close in February 2025.
Plough Lane Retail Park retail Wimbledon, UK Plough Lane Retail Park Blackrock 82,589 ft2 £33 (€39) Existing occupiers include Wickes, Currys, Pets at Home, Carpetright and Tile Giant.
1 Camille Desmoulins office Paris Tishman Speyer NA NA €30 The asset, now vacant, used to be Johnson & Johnson’s French headquarters.
Hotel Sir Joan hotel Ibiza Ax Partners NA 38 rooms €28 This project aims to reposition the hotel under the standards of the NH Collection brand.
Leonardo Boutique Hotel Rome Monti hotel Rome Castello’s Borgia Fund NA 5,800 m2 NA Located near the Colosseum, the hotel has 80 rooms.
QF Quartier - An der Frauenkirche 1 mixed Dresden Values’ Prime Locations II fund QF-Quartier an der Frauenkirche GmbH & Co. KG 17,600 m2 NA The property is fully let.
Antequera logistics park logistics Malaga, Spain Trilogis NA 1,600,000 m2 NA The development project is expected to cost around €300 mln.
Kaiserswerther Strasse business park office Ratingen, Germany Palmira Capital Partners Rhenium AM 18,700 m2 NA This acquisition marks the full investment of the fund.
Collesalvetti and San Donato assets logistics Tuscany, Italy Principal Asset Management Corà Domenico & Figli spa 28,800 m2 NA The acquisition was made for the Log In fund managed by Theoreim.
Palazzo Pacioli office Turin Ream sgr Primula Costruzioni 16,500 m2 NA The asset will be completely redeveloped.
two residential assets living Copenhagen Invesco Real Estate FB Gruppen 14,900 m2 NA The brand new properties are fully occupied.
logistics centre logistics Heilbronn, Germany AXA IM Alts ECE Work & Live 63,000 m2 NA The state-of-the-art logistics centre is spread across two buildings and is fully let.
Bahnhofstrasse 2-4 hotel Aschheim, Germany Atream HIH Invest 150 rooms NA The property, is let to AccorInvest Germany and is operated as an “ibis budget” hotel format.
logistics asset logistics Mölnlycke, Gothenburg CapMan Real Estate Mitsubishi Logisnext Europe AB 43,000 m2 NA The plan is to demolish the current outdated industrial buildings and, in their place, construct an EU taxonomy aligned modern logistics facility.
Virgin hotel at 246 Clyde Street hotel Glasgow Martin Property Group Lloyds Developments in administration 240 rooms NA The hotel closed in December 2023.

 

 

Assets on the market       
Asset Asset type Location Vendor Size Price (mln) Broker Key facts
Livensa Living portfolio living Spain Brookfield 9,000 beds €1300 Morgan Stanley and Eastdil Secured LLC The portfolio comprises 9,000 beds across 22 properties.
Crown Gardens living Woking, near London Zetland Capital and Donard Real Estate 272 new homes £110 (€130) Knight Frank The forward funding opportunity is expected to be completed in 2028.
The Fourth Yard living London Thorstone 144 beds £75 (€89) Harris Associates Designed by architects FaulknerBrowns, the PBSA development has 361 m2 of amenities.
coliving scheme living Leeds Watkin Jones 230 homes NA Savills The owner is looking to find a forward funder or joint venture partner for the project.

 

 

Recently completed loans    
Lender(s) Borrower(s) Asset(s) Loan Size (mln) Key facts
Bond investors Colonial Unsecured €500 The green bond carries a coupon of 3.25%.
Bond investors Sirius Real Estate Unsecured €350 The Bond, which matures in 2032, carries a coupon of 4%.
Värde Partners Banco Santander portfolio of 3 luxury hotels in Spain €225 The loan refinances Banco Santander’s stake in a portfolio of luxury hotels owned through a joint venture with Meliá Hotels International.
Barclays and NatWest Elivia Homes UK living portfolio £100 (€118) The five-year loan will be used to finance 6,000 homes.
Maslow Capital Forshaw Land & Property Group Vivere Residences scheme in Manchester £64.2 (€76) The development will feature a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments, alongside five penthouses.
Fiera Real Estate Debt Strategies W.RE Arding and Hobbs building in London €69 The senior debt facility refinances the assets after redevelopment.
LaSalle IM Vita Group 540-bed PBSA scheme in central Birmingham £68.7 (€82) The green loan will finance delivery of the scheme.
Incus Capital European value-add asset manager Berlin office building €60 This transaction marks Incus’s first deal in Germany, following the opening of its Frankfurt office in 2024.
Virgin Money Dominus 5-10 Great Tower Street NA The loan will fund the development of a 237-bed Curio Collection by Hilton hotel.

 

 

Funds on the market   
Firm Fund Strategy Details
Values Prime LocationsⅡ Investing in prime locations in German cities. The core plus fund is aiming for a target volume of €400-500 mln with an equity share of around €250 mln.
      The Values Prime LocationsⅡ fund is set up as an Article 8 fund.
Verdion Velf II   The value-add fund has secured another €100 mln, taking the level of capital to over €300 mln.
Heim UK Residential Fund Investing in the development of UK homes. The fund has completed its first close supported by UK Local Government Pension Schemes with initial commitments at £375 mln.
      The build-to-core fund has an £800 mln target, aiming to develop 5,000 homes.
Mitiska REIM MEREP III Investing in grocery-anchored retail parks, last-mile urban logistics and multi-let light industrial opportunities in CEE. EBRD is investing €50 in the fund, taking total commitments to €290 mln.