SINGAPORE (Nov 2): Mapletree Investments, the property arm of Singapore’s state investment fund Temasek Holdings, has acquired a portfolio of seven student accommodation assets located across six states in the US from Kayne Anderson Real Estate Advisors for an undisclosed sum.
In a Wednesday announcement, Mapletree says this marks its first acquisition of student accommodation in the US, although it currently has a portfolio of serviced apartment / corporate lodging assets there.
The US acquisition comprises close to 6,000 beds across Oregon, Alabama, Texas, Georgia, Virginia and Indiana – bringing the group’s total student accommodation to nearly 12,000 beds across 32 assets in the UK and US.
According to the group, all seven properties within the portfolio are purpose-built in the last two to three years, and cater to “Tier 1 US universities which have good national rankings” and high enrolments.
This comes after Mapletree earlier this year acquired a portfolio of 25 student residences in British university locations, for a reported sum of £417 million ($822.5 million). Under the UK portfolio, nearly 6,000 beds are spread across 12 core university cities including London, Oxford, Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Liverpool.
A source close to Mapletree says the group’s latest acquisitions in the student accommodation segment make its combined portfolio sufficiently significant to be a platform that can be put to investors in the form of either a private REIT or fund.
“In view of the growing demand for quality tertiary education, both from local US and UK as well as international students, we intend to further scale up in these growth markets. Our aim is to build a strong global platform with this defensive and resilient asset class,” says Mapletree’s group CEO, Hiew Yoon Khong.
As at end of FY 15/16, the total assets under management (AUM) in the developed markets of US, UK and Australia were about $3.5 billion and are expected to grow significantly over the next three years.
The AUMs of REITs that Mapletree has listed has been around $1 billion at IPO, and the size of its China Opportunities Fund is $1.4 billion.
