DWS Acquires Vita Group Portfolio

DWS has snapped up a £600m UK student accommodation portfolio from Vita Group.

The asset manager, on behalf of its real estate funds, is acquiring the purpose-built Vita Student assets from Vita Group.

The deal consists of eight UK assets, which will continue to be managed by Vita on behalf of DWS.

The portfolio contains 3,198 beds across Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, Birmingham and Newcastle, with three of the sites yet to be constructed.

Vita Student was launched in 2013 and manages 5,760 beds in 19 sites, across 12 cities.

The acquisition from DWS follows on from the forward purchase of a large-scale development in Wembley and will further expand the company's presence in the purpose-built student accommodation market.

Ronen Ribak, head of real estate transactions, Europe at DWS, said: "We will continue to seek best in class student housing properties across Europe and partner with managers and operators with a shared trajectory of growth as we continue to deploy capital in the European student housing sector."

Meanwhile, CIO & head of strategy, Matthias Naumann added: "With demand for higher education growing globally, we expect UK universities to continue to attract students from both the UK and overseas, despite current uncertainties."

"It allows DWS to increase its presence in a sector offering strong long term growth prospects while being defensive during downturns. This is very much in line with the investment strategy of our funds."