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In a bid to expand into the US, Centurion Corporation will acquire five student accommodation assets across four US states for a total of US$136 million (S$187 million).
In an SGX filing, the group revealed plans to acquire up to a 30 percent interest in the portfolio assets, and that it is in talks with various third party investors, who will own the remaining interest.
Featuring 1,936 beds, the portfolio assets are situated in four states including Tallahassee, Florida; Auburn, Alabama; College Station, Texas and Madison, Wisconsin. The company noted that the student accommodation assets support US universities with sizable student populations and good national rankings.
It added that the proposed acquisition is “expected to be completed on or about end September and the five fully operational assets will be earnings accretive to the group’s earnings from the fourth quarter of 2017”.
“The US is one of the key and established educational hubs in the world, and the proposed acquisition of five fully operational student accommodation assets across four US states will immediately expand our business geographically and increase the earnings contribution from this resilient sector,” said Centurion CEO Kong Chee Min.
“It will also open a new business opportunity for Centurion, as we extend into the investment management of investments from like-minded investors.”
Centurion will also enter a joint-venture with a US student accommodation manager, which will co-manage the portfolio under Centurion’s student accommodation brand, dwell. It will also establish an investment management platform that will manage the assets on behalf of third party investors.
The anticipated addition of 1,936 beds will take Centurion’s total assets under management to 5,424 beds across 16 student accommodation assets in the US, UK, Australia and Singapore.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
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