Singapore-listed Elite Commercial REIT is to expand its UK strategy of investing and break into the living sector.
The group, which currently has a £412m portfolio in the UK comprising government-let assets including a portfolio of Jobcentre Plus centres, said it planned to expand its strategy to all real estate investment, in particular purpose-built student accommodation, senior living and built-to-rent.
Elite said it would be utilising the expertise of one of its sponsors, Sunway RE Capital, which is already active in the UK PBSA sector with 820-bed across four cities – Bristol, Manchester, Sheffield and Southampton – to enter the market.
The REIT said it had been working on ways to future-proof its assets to “unlock the latent value” of its portfolio and that to be able to do this it needed to expand its existing investment strategy.
While it still intends to focus on investing in the social infrastructure asset sector, Elite said the expansion of its strategy to “encompass a wider scope of real estate and real estate related assets will enhance the diversification of the portfolio, allowing for latent value to be unlocked and the position Elite REIT for future growth”.
It added: “Having more options at hand would allow [Elite] to execute its proactive asset management strategies by expanding into diversified asset classes with similar stable and defensive cashflow, as well as income visibility, further strengthening its resilient portfolio.
“This also reduces tenancy concentration and enhances resilience against market volatility and sector-specific challenges, while enabling Elite REIT to seize opportunities in underserved and undersupplied market segments, thereby maximising value and minimising costs for optimised portfolio performance.”
Last month, Elite secured £135m from a consortium of banks to refinance its portfolio.
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