Singapore-based private equity real estate firm Q Investment Partners (QIP) has partnered with property group Soilbuild on a £200 mln (€227 mln) student housing platform in the UK.
The platform could potentially be scaled up to £400 mln (€454 mln) and the plan is to syndicate up to 45% of equity with strategic limited parties.
The PBSA platform will initially be seeded by two development opportunities in York and Newcastle, with a total of 650 beds, both operated by Prestige Student Living, the premium brand of Homes for Students.
QIP co-founder and CEO, Peter Young, commented: ‘We are excited to partner with Soilbuild to launch this new UK PBSA platform. As integrated real estate businesses, QIP and Soilbuild share many of the same values and this partnership reaffirms QIP’s significant track record and expertise in the global residential living sector. The PBSA sector continues to be increasingly attractive to institutional investors. This partnership demonstrates our continued commitment to the sector and will see QIP leverage our existing platform scale to address the growing demand for high-quality student accommodation in the UK. The result is an attractive proposition for QIP, Soilbuild and strategic LPs: a highly resilient and well-managed income base that translates into competitive risk-adjusted returns, stability and growth.’
Lim Han Feng, director Soilbuild, added: ‘This partnership is a continuation of Soilbuild’s strategy of developing purpose-built schemes across the residential and business space. QIP and Soilbuild have significant expertise in providing a full spectrum of real estate solutions, and through this strategic partnership with QIP, we are leading the way to build a scalable portfolio of UK PBSA assets to address the structural undersupply of quality student accommodation in the market. PBSA continues to be a non-cyclical asset class that demonstrates its resilience through its strong fundamentals.’
The partnership with Soilbuild is part of QIP’s strategy to expand its specialist Global Residential Living Platform across the UK, US, and Japan with institutional partners, targeting PBSA, multi-family & co-living rental buildings, BTR, and care homes.
