DIF Capital Partners has signed a deal to acquire Ottoway Portfolio Holdings, which owns and operates a portfolio of eight purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) assets in UK cities.
The company was acquired from a fund advised by Arlington Advisors, a UK-based investment manager, and Campus Living Villages.
According to DIF, the investment will be made by DIF Infrastructure VI and CLV will continue operating the portfolio.
DIF is a firm founded in 2005 by entrepreneurs, Maarten Koopman and Menno Witteveen, to invest in European public-private partnerships.
It has made recent investments in UK district heating, a US solar platform, a UK co-location solar and battery portfolio, and freight wagons. According to a statment, its traditional funds invest in lower risk mid-sized infrastructure projects and companies in the energy transition, utilities sector, as well as PPPs and concessions.
The student occupied real estate portfolio comprises over 4,500 rooms across seven key student city hotspots in England and Wales, those being London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham and Newport.
The majority are freehold assets, and the portfolio has a number of fixed leases and long-term agreements with universities. The portfolio also benefits from existing institutional financing in the form of a long-dated listed bond.
Gijs Voskuyl, partner and head of infrastructure, said, ‘This operational portfolio benefits from long-term relationships with universities in key UK cities and has demonstrated a strong historical track record.’
‘We recognise the important role that PBSA plays for both local and foreign students thus we look forward to working alongside high calibre educational institutions to provide accommodation for their students.’
DIF was advised by CMS, Vercity, Student First Group, Deloitte and Evolution Infrastructure.
Arlington and CLV were advised by Squire Patton Boggs, KPMG, Memery Crystal and Osborne Clark.
