Greystar Acquires UK Student Housing Portfolio

CHARLESTON, SC, and LONDON-Greystar Real Estate Partners in partnership with Goldman Sachs, has acquired a portfolio of student housing assets in the United Kingdom. The portfolio comprises 21 assets principally located in London, Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool and represents the first acquisition undertaken by Greystar in the UK. The transaction closed on October 23.

“We are responding to continued strong demand from renters for professionally managed, institutional quality residential communities and that is our strength,” said Bob Faith, founder and CEO of Greystar. “Overall residential investment remains a very attractive near and long term growth market not just in the US, but also in other select markets globally, like the UK.  Our operational strategies and expertise have positioned us for significant and sustained growth for many years ahead.”

The portfolio was acquired out of UK bankruptcy administration proceedings for the Opal Property Group. It comprises assets containing over 6,900 beds.  The portfolio's high quality buildings and locations, as well as the fact that many of the properties are partnered with outstanding universities made this an attractive purchase for Greystar.  The company also believes that residential properties in select markets globally are poised to outperform particularly when acquired in distress and when they can apply value-add strategies.  Greystar will execute capital improvement program on the portfolio that will include both interior and common area upgrades.

Greystar is the largest operator of apartment communities in the United States, with over 215,000 apartments under management. The company has significant experience in student housing, having managed over 59,000 beds over the past 15 years.  This is a logical expansion for Greystar, which intends to establish itself as a leading player in the UK in both conventional and student housing and believes this portfolio will provide a strong foundation from which to build a sizeable platform in the coming years.

“We were fortunate to identify a pool of assets that, in one transaction, allowed us to achieve the scale required to justify the development of a fully functional UK-based operational platform while also providing geographic diversification and exposure to several of the country's top universities,” said Brett Lashley, managing director for Greystar in the United Kingdom. “Greystar will invest heavily in these assets to improve the resident living experience and make each property a more attractive and competitive alternative to other properties in their respective markets.”

This transaction comes on the heels of other large portfolio acquisitions and investments the company has made in 2013, totaling over $3 billion.  Earlier this year Greystar partnered with Goldman Sachs and other partners to acquire a $1.5 billion portfolio of multifamily assets owned by Equity Residential.

Greystar and Goldman Sachs were advised by Macquarie Capital.

Greystar Real Estate Partners is a fully integrated multifamily company offering expertise in investment management, development, and property management throughout the United States and abroad. Headquartered in Charleston, SC, Greystar manages approximately 215,000 units in over 100 markets. In addition to its Property Operations business, Greystar has a robust Investment Management platform with 45,000 apartment units valued at $5.5 billion and a Development platform that was recently named the largest builder of apartments in 2012 with 5,360 units started. Greystar was founded by Bob Faith in 1993 with the intent to become a provider of world-class services in the multifamily real estate business.