Arlington Advisors Picks up Study Inn Portfolio in £135m Deal

Date: January 2018

Location: 10 student housing buildings across the UK – Cambridge, Coventry, Nottingham and Sheffield

Name: Study Inns

No of Keys: 1,494 beds

Seller: Study Inn, advised by Knight Frank. They will remain as the management company

Buyer: Arlington Advisors, headed up by Sean McKeown as MD, with Sir Frederick Barclay on board as an advisor.

In 2014, Arlington Investors, its investment vehicle,  joined forces with Australian investor Campus Living Villages (CLV) to buy a £245m student housing portfolio from the collapsed Opal Group. Since then, the investment company – established in Jersey in 2013 and representing family offices and investors from the UK and the Middle East – has snapped up properties and portfolios in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Cheltenham, Gloucester and Exeter.

It has now invested more than £550m in the sector.

Last March, Arlington’s student accommodation growth plans led it to enter into a partnership with the Pensions Infrastructure Platform (PiP), a dedicated investment manager set up by pension schemes, to invest in on-campus residences.

THPT Comment: As stated before this is a fast moving sector with a flurry of recent deals, with two huge portfolios traded in the run-up to the Christmas period.

iQ Student Accommodation purchased Pure Student Living, which has 3,644 beds in 11 buildings, from LetterOne Treasury Services for £869m.

Meanwhile, Curlew Capital is believed to have sold the Enigma portfolio – comprising 5,407 beds across 15 buildings – to Brookfield Asset Management for around £600m. In fact they completed in February 2018 at £520m, well below the £600m it went on the market at in September 2017. Curlew are backed by CBRE Global Investment Partners. Savills acted for Curlew.

Besides student housing, Brookfield have also ventured into serviced apartments.

First Seen: Property Week