Singaporean investor Mapletree Investments is in exclusive talks to buy the £400m student housing portfolio Project Ardent.
The company, which is backed by Singaporean state-owned company Temasek, is close to securing a deal for the 5,500-bed portfolio at an asking price that reflects a yield of around 6%.
The portfolio is being sold by Guernsey-based International Mutual Fund and comprises 25 properties in 12 cities. They were previously part of the Mansion Student Accommodation Fund.
It would be Mapletree’s first deal in the UK student housing market and its second major UK real estate acquisition in the past two months.
The group agreed last month to pay £365m for a trio of prime regional offices in Manchester, Bristol and Aberdeen.
Mapletree outbid established student housing investors Gatehouse, Roundhill Capital and LetterOne to secure Project Ardent, which represents one of the last opportunities to build scale quickly in the student market.
However, Mapletree is understood to have been attracted by the long income on the assets and is not expected to attempt to establish a major student housing platform in the UK.
It has appointed Homes for Students to manage the properties on its behalf.
David Campbell, managing director of student housing developer Alumno Developments, said: “This has been driven by the fact that it is a secure investment in a strong sector. They have outbid those with magnitude and understanding, which shows that this is a safe haven.”
IMF instructed Knight Frank in June to review the fund and consider options that included a refinancing or a sale.
