ESAF, the evergreen Student Housing Core+ fund backed by Stoneshield Capital and funded by UBS Asset Management’s institutional investors, has acquired two new student residences in Porto for €50 mln.
The purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) assets feature premium rooms and common spaces, in line with the demands of the current genration of students, and are Leed ESG certified gold and silver, the firm said.
The residences will be managed by Micampus, which also manages 46 residences owned by ESAF, spread across 24 cities in Spain and Portugal.
Stoneshield Capital is a Southern European real estate investment fund led by Felipe Morenés and Juan Pepa with around €3 bn of diversified investments across the living, data centre, life sciences and logistics sectors. The firm employs more than 1,200 people across its companies.
Said Morenes: 'The Portuguese market has been one of the leading markets for Stoneshield and remains one of the most attractive investment locations in Europe, with one of the highest GDP growth rates, lower inflation, a healthy financial system and a positive evolution of the unemployment rate. We plan to continue investing and supporting the growth of our portfolio companies in the country.'
Pepa explained: 'EESAF currently has a portfolio of top quality PBSA assets, valued at €1bn, which we expect to double in the short term, with the aim of becoming the leader in the PBSA sector in the Southern European market, which is the most undersupplied region for this type of assets on the continent, and with a strong and growing university system.'
'The lack of housing for university students has been identified as a major problem in Portugal, particularly in the main urban centres such as Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra. This has led to an increase in student housing prices. ESAF's objective in Portugal is to help solve this problem.'
