Brookfield to enter student housing with €530m deal - report

Canadian investor Brookfield Property Partners is reportedly close to making its first global investment in student housing with the acquisition of Avenue Capital’s UK portfolio for around £420 mln (€530 mln).

According to a news report by Property Week, Brookfield is under offer on the 6,000-bed student portfolio and the deal is likely to complete by the middle of March.

Avenue appointed JLL to sell the portfolio, which includes 992 bed spaces in Sheffield, 648 bed spaces in Nottingham and a 369-bed scheme in Newcastle, last autumn.

The deal would be the second large student housing transaction in the UK since the start of the year. In January, US investment bank Goldman Sachs joined forces with the British charitable foundation Wellcome Trust in a £2 bn (€2.6 bn) student accommodation joint venture which will initially hold a portfolio of 23,500 beds in 25 towns across the UK.