London investor-developer Quintain has sold its 50% interest in the iQ student accommodation joint venture to its partner, Wellcome Trust.

London investor-developer Quintain has sold its 50% interest in the iQ student accommodation joint venture to its partner, Wellcome Trust.

The consideration of £106.4 mln (€130 mln), in cash, was in line with the end-March 20014 valuation of the business.

Since realising its investment in Greenwich Peninsula last November, Quintain has begun to recycle capital into its major development at Wembley Park and broaden its London asset base through the recently announced acquisitions of Kingsbourne House and Aldermary House.

The disposal of its interest in iQ enables Quintain to invest incremental capital in income-producing assets and to deliver more homes, more quickly at Wembley Park, whilst maintaining 'levels of debt appropriate to the wider portfolio,' Quintain said.

Having established iQ in 2006, Quintain introduced Wellcome Trust as a 50:50 joint venture partner in 2007, each partner committing up to £100 mln of equity. Quintain has also acted as asset manager to the joint venture since this date. Over the last seven years, the joint venture has grown to become one of the UK’s largest operators of purpose/built student accommodation, achieving an average 99% occupancy rate over the last three years.

iQ now owns a portfolio of 5,183 bedrooms across 13 properties located in nine UK cities, with a gross property value at 31 March 2014 of £432 mln, reflecting a valuation yield of 6.1%.

Peter Pereira Gray, managing director, investment Division at Wellcome Trust commented: 'Taking full ownership of iQ is a demonstration of our commitment to the UK student accommodation sector and our confidence in iQ as a platform. We plan to invest additional capital to fund the next phase of iQ’s growth and look forward to continued success and growth for iQ under our sole ownership.'