Alternative lender Puma Property Finance has completed loan facilities totalling £25 mln (€29 mln) to finance two purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) developments in Colchester and Leicester, with UK student housing developer Victoria Hall Management Limited (VHML).
The two developments, jointly comprising 383 beds, are expected to help meet demand for accommodation at the University of Essex and De Montfort University and are scheduled to open in time for the start of the 2020/21 academic year.
'Puma Property Finance is delighted to have closed facilities on our first two PBSA schemes with VHML, one of the leading developers of student accommodation in the UK, and to have met the tight completion timescales on both deals,' said Kevin Davidson, director of Puma Property Finance.
In Colchester, a £16 mln loan facility will finance a 252-bed, ground up development near the town centre for students at the University of Essex. In Leicester, meanwhile, a £9 mln loan facility will finance a 131-bed, four-storey development on the site of a former office building, adjacent to the campus of De Montfort University.
'Student accommodation continues to offer an attractive market for experienced PBSA developers and is another alternative sector where we are increasing our lending activity as we continue to grow our loan book through 2019 and beyond,' Davidson concluded.
Puma Property Finance, which works across commercial and residential sector projects, said it had already closed £90 mln in new loans this year.
David Yeadon of SPF Private Clients mediated on the loan.
