Curlew Student Trust expands with additional equity injection and £63 mln acquisition of three new schemes (UK)

Following the launch of the Curlew Student Trust (“CST”) in December 2013, Curlew Capital Ltd (“Curlew”) has announced a second equity investment from clients of CBRE Global Multi Manager (“CBRE GMM”) and an enlargement of the fund’s debt facilities for three new property acquisitions.
Clients of CBRE GMM have invested a further £41 million (approx. €50.44 million) of equity into CST, enabling the forward funding of three new, purpose-built student accommodation assets in Chester, York, and Glasgow, providing 877 new beds. The investment takes CBRE GMM’s clients’ investment in the fund to £82 mln (approx. €100.9 million). CST’s debt facility with RBS International has also been extended to £51 mln (approx. €62.7 million).
CST has acquired the York and Glasgow assets from developer Legacy Student Living (“Legacy”) and Curlew expects to work on further transactions with Legacy as the CST portfolio grows. Legacy has appointed Caddick Construction to deliver York and Ogilvie Construction to deliver Glasgow. Watkin Jones Group, the developer of CST’s seed portfolio comprising 1,091 beds, is both contractor and developer for the Chester scheme. These schemes are due for delivery in time for the 2015 academic year. Operational and property management will be provided by Fresh Student Living.
Paul Oliver, Chief Executive of Curlew Capital said: “This second tranche of equity demonstrates the ongoing demand from institutional investors to gain access to high quality, purpose-built student accommodation. The new assets will complement the existing portfolio, providing greater regional diversification whilst adhering to our strategy of focusing on strong university towns.
“Furthermore, we are very pleased to again be working with both our existing partner Watkin Jones and our new partner Legacy Student Living and look forward to them becoming part of our wider stakeholder group as we grow the Trust.”
Alex Bignell, Head of UK, CBRE Global Multi Manager said: “We are pleased that Curlew has added three more high quality assets to the Trust's portfolio. We will continue to support the growth of this programmatic venture on behalf of our clients given our objective to build a strong portfolio of purpose-built student accommodation assets. CBRE GMM looks forward to evaluating further investment opportunities with Curlew.”
Source: Curlew Capital Ltd.