The Carlyle Group enters student accommodation joint venture in Benelux
Global private equity firm The Carlyle Group announced the expansion of its real estate operations into the Benelux region. Through a joint venture with Benelux Property Group SARL, itself a joint venture between Opal Group, the UK’s largest private owner of student accommodation, and the MacGregor family, Carlyle intends to build a portfolio of student housing in the region. Carlyle will invest through its third European real estate fund CEREP III, which has €2.2 billion of equity.
The joint venture, is targeting 5,000-7,000 student beds across a maximum of 20-25 properties in The Netherlands and Belgium over the next five years. Within the joint venture, Carlyle and Benelux Property Group will provide finance for the acquisition and development of the sites and be responsible for the planning, design and construction phases of the projects. The finished products will then be let, on long leases of 20-25 years, to City Living SA (in which Carlyle is also a minority stakeholder) who will operate the accommodation business and take responsibility for the welfare of the students. Carlyle and Benelux Property Group want to develop City Living into the leading student accommodation operator in Benelux. Agnès Riban, Associate Director of The Carlyle Group, based in Paris, will be responsible for overseeing Carlyle’s investments in the region.
The joint venture’s portfolio currently comprises two properties, the first of which is a newly refurbished 146 room student housing unit called Home Ruhl in Liege, Belgium, which is 100% let, since opening in September 2008. The supply of good quality student accommodation in Liege does not currently match the very high demand from the 30,000 Belgian and international students in the city …