CA Ventures sells UK PBSA portfolio for £161m

CA Ventures sells UK PBSA portfolio for £161m
Image: Courtesy of Savills

CA Ventures has sold its initial portfolio of 897-beds purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) assets in the UK for £161 million to funds managed by Apollo Global Management.

“Only three years after establishing our European headquarters in London, our initial PBSA portfolio has driven our swift success across three leading UK cities for students, and its record-value sale represents a strong validation of our investment thesis centered around a prime offering,” said Carlo Matta, head of CA’s European operations.

“This milestone was made possible by the vertical integration of our expert team, who successfully managed the land acquisition, delivery, 100% lease up, operations and sale of this state-of-the-art portfolio despite the ongoing challenges presented by the global economic environment. With another 6,000 beds across Europe in our development pipeline and the backing of institutional capital, I couldn’t be more excited for the future of CA’s European operations,” he added.

The disposed student assets comrise the 250 beds Hillside House- Sheffield University, Sheffield Hallam University; Sheffield, England; the 422 beds Bridle Works – University of Strathclyde, University of Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian University; Glasgow, Scotland; the 225 beds Silk Mill – Edinburgh Napier University, University of Edinburgh; Edinburgh, Scotland.

CA plans to deliver another 1,000 beds across, Edinburgh, Leicester and Belfast to serve students during the 2022/2023 academic year, all of which will be managed by Novel.

CA has also announced joint ventures to expand its PBSA portfolio and the Novel platform to Ireland, Spain and Italy. 

PGIM Real Estate provided financing solutions to CA to support the development of the three sites. “We are pleased to have supported CA in their inaugural PBSA development in the UK through our PGIM Real Estate Capital (PRECap) platform, the European flagship high yield debt fund series,” said Mathew Crowther, PRECap senior portfolio manager at PGIM Real Estate. “CA, with their depth of experience in this sector and their vertical arrangement, exemplifies the type of strategic sponsorship we seek, to benefit from PRECap’s bespoke and creative capital solutions. This investment in prime UK student accommodation underscores the potential opportunities in tracking the ongoing structural trends in the living sector, a key investment pillar of PGIM Real Estate.”

“The significant level of interest in this portfolio is testament to the high-quality assets our client had aggregated, as well as the continuing strong global investor interest in the UK PBSA market,” said Sonia Wang, associate director of Savills Capital Advisors, who advised the seller.