Allianz moves into UK student housing market

Fund manager Allianz is joining forces with rental housing specialist Greystar Real Estate Partners and one of Canada’s largest pension funds, PSP Investments, in a joint venture to grow Chapter, London’s leading student accommodation provider.

Allianz Real Estate, which is executing on behalf of various Allianz insurance companies, is making an equity investment of £350 million to acquire an interest in Chapter, alongside the stakes already held by Greystar and PSP. The three investors are supporting an investment programme which will double the size of the portfolio to 10,000 student beds within five years, as well as improving the quality of the assets and building the Chapter brand.

Greystar will manage the portfolio, which currently consists of 5,100 student beds in 10 central London locations. Allianz Real Estate CIO, Olivier Teran, commented: “This joint venture with Greystar and PSP Investments underlines our strategic commitment to scale up our global allocation to high-quality student accommodation in established markets. This transaction is particularly important for Allianz as it also marks our largest equity investment into the UK, which has become an increasing focus for us across the capital structure.”