CPPIB Liberty Living Inc. announced that it has acquired a portfolio of five student accommodation residences with a total of 2,153 beds in five major university cities from Student Castle for a consideration of 330 million British Pounds.
CPPIB Liberty Living is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (“CPPIB”), which acquired the Liberty Living business in March 2015, including the operating company trading under the name Liberty Living.
The five assets CPPIB Liberty Living is acquiring from Student Castle are comprised of high-quality residences in some of the top university cities in the U.K. Four of the buildings (Cardiff, London, Manchester and Newcastle) are in cities where Liberty Living already has a strong presence and will complement the portfolio. The fifth building is in Bristol, where Liberty Living has not previously owned assets, a key university city in which the company would like to grow its activities.
“Liberty Living has grown historically through the acquisition of developed assets, both individually and as portfolios,” said Charles Marshall, CEO, Liberty Living. “The opportunity to acquire these five high-quality residences from Student Castle is a coherent next step in growing our operational portfolio, given the high specification, modernity and location of the assets. We believe this transaction is an excellent example of the marriage of CPPIB’s long-term capital to the Liberty Living operating platform to acquire top-quality assets in the sector.”
“We are immensely proud of our success in producing such high-quality assets and will continue to be the leaders in the development and operation of high-quality student accommodation in the U.K., and are pleased to have made a portfolio sale to CPPIB Liberty Living, a major investor in the student accommodation market,” said Jacqui Hawthorn Chief Operating Officer, Student Castle. “Student Castle’s pipeline of developments in York, Cambridge, Durham, Oxford, Bath and Glasgow, to name a few, will certainly keep us focused for the next few years.”
The newly acquired assets will be rebranded as Liberty Living buildings and integrated into the wider operating business in the next few months.
