A new £2bn student accommodation company formed by Goldman Sachs, Wellcome Trust and Greystar could become the sector’s first REIT.
It will also look to make platform acquisitions despite the heated market.
As tipped by Estates Gazette (1 August 2015, p19) the trio have formed VeroGroup, which owns 23,500 beds across 54 UK sites. The pooling of their assets, including Greystar’s minority share in the Goldman assets it operated, will see the investment bank take a 68.4% stake, Wellcome 28% and Greystar 3.6%.
The new company will have 600 employees, of which 80 to 100 will be based at the company’s new office on Finsbury Circus, EC2. The rest will be focused on operations and located at VeroGroup properties.
Around 140 staff have transferred from Wellcome’s iQ business. The remainder have been brought in from Prodigy Living, the Greystar-operated company that ran Goldman’s assets.
VeroGroup will be headed by managing director Ilya Blazic, the former chief executive of iQ.
In the longer term the company is likely to float, which could allow Goldman to exit and Wellcome the chance to retain its stake through share ownership.
Peter Pereira Gray, managing director of the investment division of Wellcome Trust, said: “I would envisage Wellcome being a long-term investor in the sector but we are relatively indifferent to holding assets publicly or privately.”
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