Brookfield picks up €112m student digs portfolio in the UK

The Trium Portfolio consists of Duresme Court, West Gate and Stanley Studios – three modern operational student housing developments located in Durham, Exeter, and Southampton.
 
Maven Capital Partners UK acted as the onshore asset manager on behalf of both IPIM and Glenmore while Homes for Student’s Prestige Student Living brand and CRM Students will continue as student operators for the portfolio.
 
Brookfield entered the student housing market in 2016, and since then has grown to become one of the largest owners and operators of student housing in Europe with 50,000 beds. It has also recently entered the US student housing market through a joint venture with Scion Group. In the UK, Brookfield owns Student Roost, which it has developed from a 5,000-bed portfolio in 2016 into the UK’s third largest PBSA provider with over 21,000 beds.
 
‘The Trium Portfolio represents an attractive entry into student housing for our European core-plus strategy,’ commented Michael Fuller, managing director and head of Brookfield’s European Core-Plus Program. ‘The U.K. student housing market has remained resilient throughout the cycle, and these assets are well-positioned to benefit from continued strong demand for post-secondary qualifications from U.K, universities, and a shortage of high-quality PBSA facilities. Leveraging our experience of owning and operating PBSA businesses, the portfolio will serve as a foundation for further acquisitions in U.K. cities with high-quality institutions.’
 
Selina Williams, executive director at IPIM said: ‘The sale represents another profitable exit for our investors as we look to continue our strategy of developing institutional-quality PBSA in strong locations, before targeting an exit to long-term investors.  We remain highly positive on the outlook for the UK PBSA sector which despite the challenges of the pandemic has again demonstrated its resilient characteristics.’

Knight Frank brokered the transaction.