Acquisition

RNS Number : 4868X

Unite Group PLC

22 February 2017

 

Press release 22 February 2017

THE UNITE GROUP PLC

("Unite Students", "Unite", the "Group", or the "Company")

UNITE STUDENTS ACQUIRES NEW SITE IN MANCHESTER

Unite Students, the UK's leading manager and developer of student accommodation, has exchanged contracts to acquire a development site in Manchester, on a subject to planning basis.  The site, in Manchester city centre, is located near to the University of Manchester and is anticipated to provide a home for around 450 students.

The acquisition is forecast to cost around £41 million and deliver returns in line with our targeted level of 8.0-8.5% development yield. The development will be funded internally and is anticipated to be delivered for the 2020 academic year.  The acquisition increases the development pipeline to c. 7,500 beds underpinning our earnings growth outlook.

Manchester is a strong performing market with two high quality Universities and a total of 63,000 students seeking accommodation. The site would increase Unite's Manchester portfolio to 2,800 beds, providing an opportunity to further strengthen our relationships with local Universities.

Richard Simpson, Group Property Director commented:

"This acquisition extends our high-quality development programme in a strong regional location where there is growing demand for purpose built student accommodation. Manchester is a thriving student city which we expect to continue to attract high numbers of students. We look forward to working with the local Universities to help meet the strong demand for high-quality student accommodation."

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Unite Students Joe Lister, Chief Financial Officer Paul Richmond, Corporate Affairs Director	Tel: [phone]
Bell Pottinger Victoria Geoghegan Nick Lambert Elizabeth Snow	Tel: [phone]

Notes to editors:

About Unite Students

Unite Students is the UK's largest and most established manager and developer of purpose-built student accommodation. It provides a home for around 50,000 students, in more than 140 properties, across 24 leading university cities in England and Scotland. Unite works in partnership with more than 60 Higher Education institutions and also lets rooms directly to students.

Unite's purpose is to provide a home to its culturally-diverse customers, offering them a strong foundation for academic and personal success. The accommodation is high quality, safe and close to university campuses, transport links and local amenities. Students live in ensuite study bedrooms with rents covering all bills, insurance, 24-hour security, fortnightly cleaning of communal kitchens and bathrooms and high speed Wi-Fi.

Founded in 1991 in Bristol, The Unite Group plc is a FTSE250 company, listed on the London Stock Exchange, employing more than 1,250 people. It pursues a sustainable growth strategy, designed to make the most of the resilient nature of the student accommodation sector. Unite is focused on maintaining its position as the leading provider of student accommodation in the UK, by having the best brand, operating the highest quality portfolio and maintaining the strongest capital structure in the sector. This is achieved with consistent investment in, and improvement to, the operating platform; highly selective development activity and asset management initiatives.

Unite is invested in and operates a two specialist funds and joint ventures with institutional investment partners, the £2 billion Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund (USAF) and the £1 billion London Student Accommodation Vehicle (LSAV).

Unite is the founder and major donor of the Unite Foundation. Since 2012 this has provided free student accommodation and financial support to 160 young people in the UK who lack family support.

For more information you can visit Unite's corporate website www.unite-group.co.uk, the student site www.unite-students.com or the Unite Foundation www.unitefoundation.co.uk.

LEI: 213800BBUUWVDH9YI827

 

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