Mapletree Investments has reportedly put up 24 UK purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) properties for sale, reports Mingtiandi.
This comes after Mapletree announced, in April, that it was acquiring 31 student accommodation assets and an operating platform from Cuscaden Peak Investments for GBP1 billion ($1.7 billion). The assets have 8,192 operational beds across 19 cities in the UK and Germany.
The PBSA properties that are said to be for sale have a total of 4,844 beds and are owned by a Mapletree-sponsored closed-end private fund. Some of Mapletree’s student accommodation properties are funded by Mapletree Investments itself, while the rest are funded by the Mapletree Global Student Accommodation Private Trust.
According to UK-based media outlet Green Street News which first reported the news, the properties are said to be worth GBP450 million ($583 million) and are located in London, Lincoln, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester and Aberystwyth.
"The student housing assets currently being offered for sale are held within a Mapletree-sponsored closed-end private fund. While the student housing sector continues to be a core sector for Mapletree, there is a need to explore the divestment of these assets in the fund to realise returns for our investors," says Matt Walker, CEO, Student Housing, Mapletree. "Given heightened investment activities in the UK's student housing market and an increasingly accommodative macro-economic environment, we have launched the sale process with a view to maximise returns for our fund investors."
"Mapletree continues to remain positive on the student housing sector in the UK and will continue to grow our investment and development portfolios in the market," he adds.
