GCP Student Living plc has exchanged contracts to secure the acquisition of Woburn Place, a private student accommodation asset located at a prime central London position in Bloomsbury, WC1.
Woburn Place, which is currently owned and operated by Unite Students, is within short walking distance of University College London (c.38,000 students from 150 countries), SOAS University of London (c.5,000 students from 133 countries) and two teaching hospitals, University College Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital. The London School of Economics, Kings College London, City University and University of the Arts, London are also within walking distance, bringing the total number of students in close proximity to Woburn Place to c.100,000.
Gravis Capital Partners LLP, the Investment Manager, has identified multiple asset management opportunities in respect of the property, which will be refurbished to a high specification. It is currently envisaged that the refurbishment will be substantially completed ahead of the 2018/19 academic year following which it is currently expected that the property will provide c.420 modern beds as well as communal areas.
The purchase price for the asset is approximately GBP135 million. The acquisition, which is expected to complete in April 2017, will be funded through a mixture of the net proceeds of the recently completed placing and offer for subscription and debt.
DIGS : GCP Student Living buys in Bloomsbury