Lenders have taken control of Opal Property Group after failing to reach a deal for refinancing its near £900m debt.
Stuart Wall’s company – one the UK’s largest student accommodation providers – is understood to have failed to agree a refinancing deal with several lenders ahead of a 1 March deadline.
The Manchester-based business is now being broken up. A number of the firm’s assets from its 20,000-bed portfolio, will be handed to the banks.
Over the past 12 months it has tried several methods to trim its circa £900m debt pile, including putting a number of assets up for sale and appointing Rothschilds to help it find equity.
Also this week, Opal subsidiary Ocon Construction filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator.
The decision comes a month after the Irish Parliament’s sudden decision to liquidate the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, which was one of Opal’s biggest lenders. Others include Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Nationwide.
Opal’s portfolio was valued at just over £1bn as at 30 September 2012.
James Pullan, head of student housing at Knight Frank, said: “When any Opal assets are put up for sale, they will attract much international interest.
“Investors are taking comfort in the fact that the performance of the student accommodation sector has improved every year since the downturn.”
A recent forecast from Knight Frank said that average student rents in London will rise to £225 per week in September 2013 from £218, and to £113 outside the capital, from £109.
Opal was not available for comment.
joanna.bourke@estatesgazette.com
