£306m Portfolio Offloaded by Unite Students

Unite Students, owners and operators of student accommodation, has disposed of a portfolio of 11 PBSA properties for £306m in a deal with an affiliate of Lone Star Funds.

The portfolio, comprising of 4,488 beds, includes assets in Sheffield (1,700 beds), Reading (703 beds), Bedford (517 beds), Liverpool (390 beds), Birmingham (337 beds), Bristol (99 beds) and Leeds (77 beds).

The sale will see a share of £236m going to Unite Students. The completion of which is expected on March 15 on four of the properties, whilst the remaining sites will be sold on August 31.

Unite Students have stated the disposals are priced in line with prevailing book value, which reflects a net operating income yield of 5.7%.

Shares in Unite were up 1.6% at 1,010.45 pence as of this morning.

Richard Smith, the chief executive of Unite Students commented: "We have now completed the disposal programme set out at the time of our acquisition of Liberty Living in 2019. These disposals have increased the focus of our portfolio in the strongest university cities and ensure our ability to sustain rental growth over a longer time horizon. Our balance sheet is also positioned for growth with the investment capacity to deliver our biggest ever secured development pipeline of £1bn and pursue further opportunities to extend our best-in-class platform."