BELFAST student accommodation provider Student Roost is to be acquired by a joint venture involving Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund and US property management group Greystar.
Set up in 2017, the management company’s portfolio in Belfast city centre includes a 430-bed block on Little Patrick Street, a 475-bed building on Great Patrick Street, as well as John Bell House on College Square East and Swanston House on Queen Street.
A 774-unit student development on Nelson Street is also in the works.
Student Roost, which manages around 23,000 beds in properties across the UK, is currently owned by a private fund controlled by Toronto-based Brookfield.
The acquisition deal by the joint venture is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022.
Set up by the government of Singapore in 1981, the GIC fund was estimated to last year have assets in the region of $744 billion (£595bn)
Commenting on the Student Roost deal, Tracey Stroh, who heads GIC’s real estate division in Europe said: “We expect student enrolment to grow over the longer term. This will boost demand for well-located, purpose-built student accommodation.
“We look forward to working closely with Greystar and Student Roost to deliver value-add such as refurbishing the existing assets to continue offering attractive student accommodation in a competitive market.”
Headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, Greystar first entered the UK student housing market in 2013. It now manages around 120,000 student beds across the world.
Mark Allnutt, senior managing director for Europe, said: “GIC is one of our most important global investment partners and we are excited to extend our partnership to the UK and in student housing, which given the fundamentals, is one of our highest conviction investment strategies globally.”
