In a first for the university sector Nottingham Trent University (NTU) has closed on a deal with the University Partnership Programme (UPP) which combines residential and non-residential elements. The 40 year concession will see the construction and management of 911 student accommodation units, a new student union building and other facilities. It is being built by Vinci Construction and the project is expected to take 18 months to complete.
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The project is being built by Vinci Construction.
NTU was advised by international law firm Pinsent Masons. Pinsent Masons' partner and student housing specialist Martin Priestley said: "This ground-breaking project is great news for the city of Nottingham and for present and future NTU students. The project sends out a strong signal to the market that demand for high quality university accommodation remains high. Universities such as Nottingham Trent are at the cutting edge of utilising project finance structures to transform their estates. It was also great to work again with the Nottingham Trent team, led by director of finance James Lacey. This is our third project for the University in the past five years."
UPP has successfully completed a £57.2 million transaction (£45.8 million (54.7 mln.) of senior debt provided by RBS; £11.3 million sub-debt and equity procured by UPP) with Nottingham Trent University.This is the fifth project that UPP has worked on with Nottingham Trent University, their partnership began in 2003.
Sean O'Shea, Chief Executive of UPP, said: "We've worked closely with Nottingham Trent University for a number of years on a number of projects, and we're delighted to be delivering this exciting scheme that will make the University's Student Union facilities amongst the best in the country. Following this transaction, we have invested over a third of a billion pounds into the Higher Education sector in the last 12 months. We are pleased to be driving important projects like this forward and providing significant private sector investment into the Higher Education sector."
The Pinsent Masons team was led by Martin Priestley and Victoria Goddard and included John Christian (tax) Stacey Collins (construction) and Rebecca Wilcock (finance). Navigant Consulting provided financial advice to the university.
Addleshaw Goddard was legal adviser to UPP and DWPF provided financial advice. Clifford Chance provided legal advice to RBS and DTZ provided demand analysis.
Source: MJ2 Limited
