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Far East Orchard has acquired three British student accommodation properties in Liverpool and Bristol for £55.0 million (about $98.7 million).
Offering a total of 622 beds, the latest acquisition brings the company’s portfolio of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) beds to 2,091 across eight properties in the UK.
In an SGX filing, Far East Orchard revealed that the properties will be managed “by the facility manager of the Group’s existing student accommodation portfolio in Newcastle upon Tyne”.
“Since our entry into the UK student accommodation sector in 2015 via the acquisition of a portfolio of properties and land sites for development in Newcastle upon Tyne, we have expanded into three other cities – Brighton, Bristol and Liverpool,” said Far East Orchard group CEO and managing director Lui Chong Chee.
“Our latest acquisition of three stabilised properties in established UK university cities is part of our strategy to enlarge our recurring income base, thereby reinforcing the group’s resilience.”
Despite the Brexit, Lui said the company remains confident of the long-term fundamentals of the UK student accommodation market. In fact, the company remains on the lookout for opportunities to grow its student accommodation portfolio.
“In line with our strategy to grow our recurring income base, we remain on target to grow our student accommodation portfolio to 3,000 beds by 2023,” he added.
Over in Brighton, Far East Orchard is developing the 193-bed Hollingbury House, which is set to be completed this year.
The company noted that Hollingbury House’s completion will further scale up its UK PBSA portfolio from about 2,100 beds to almost 2,300 beds by year-end.
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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