Alternative lender Investec Structured Property Finance has agreed to provide CA Ventures, a North American investor, developer and operator of student housing assets, with a £64 mln (€71 mln) senior loan to fund the development of 888 purpose built student accommodation (‘PBSA’) beds across the UK.
The developments will be situated in the established university cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Sheffield, and feature modern amenities with a target completion for the start of the 2020/2021 academic year.
According to Investec, the transaction represents the lender's largest PBSA loan to date, a sector in which it has provided more than £650 mln of finance, across over 16,000 beds in 41 schemes.
Investec's Shivani Goolab said: 'We are very excited to be working alongside a leading student living provider with an enviable track record in the USA, as it looks to break into the UK market.
'We believe that our experience funding a range of market-leading developers across 41 schemes positions us to play a valuable role in supporting CA Ventures’ overseas expansion strategy.'
The schemes include a 422-bed property in Glasgow adjacent to the University of Strathclyde; a 216-room scheme in Edinburgh, by Edinburgh Napier University and the University of Edinburgh; and a 250-bed scheme in Sheffield, serving Sheffield University Campus and Sheffield Hallam.
Since 2008 CA Ventures has delivered almost 50,000 beds of student accommodation across 40 major university markets, making CA Ventures the third largest student housing developer and tenth largest student housing owner in the United States.
Watkin Jones will be responsible for the development phase of the Glasgow scheme and Robertsons for the Sheffield scheme.
