SINGAPORE (Apr 16): Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) announced that its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Straits Five, Straits Six and Straits Eight, have acquired a portfolio of Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) assets in the UK for £133.7 million ($237.0 million).
The group purchased the assets from Habitus Holdings, Privilege Holdings, Privilege Southampton Holdings and AIGGRE Europe Real Estate Fund I GP.
The portfolio spans three cities in the UK – Southampton, Sheffield and Leads – and has a total capacity of 1,243 beds. The portfolio also comes with a rental guarantee that covers the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 academic years, providing earnings visibility as SPH integrates the assets into its current portfolio of PBSA managed assets.
Following this acquisition, SPH’s PBSA portfolio will have a total capacity of over 5,000 beds across 20 assets in 10 cities. Its assets under management (AUM) stands at $500 million, establishing it as a leading PBSA player in UK.
Ng Yat Chung, CEO of SPH, says, ““Since our first PBSA investment in September 2018, we have now successfully completed four acquisitions in the UK. These acquisitions are high quality, cash-yielding assets in key student cities in the UK and will enhance our recurring income going forward. We remain disciplined in our acquisition pipeline, to build our UK PBSA portfolio to a platform of scale.”
Shares in SPH closed at $2.45 on Tuesday.
