Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and The Scion Group are investing $1.6bn (β¬1.49bn) in US student housing.
The Scion Student Communities partnership, created by the trio , has bought three US student housing portfolios with 29 underlying assets.
CPPIB and GIC each own a 45% interest in the three portfolios and Scion the remaining 10%.
βThe US student housing sector is an attractive investment opportunity, driven by secular strength in enrollment growth and favourable supply dynamics,β said Hilary Spann, managing director, head of US real estate investments at CPPIB.
βAchieving scale in this sector is an important global investment objective for CPPIB.β
Adam Gallistel, regional head of Americas at GIC Real Estate, said: βThese high-quality, revenue-generating assets are good additions to our global student housing portfolio.
βWe remain confident in this sectorβs long-term fundamentals.β
One of the portfolios comprises six class-A properties located primarily in the southern US and was bought for $385m.
A second, purchased for $640m, includes 11 class-A properties in university markets across the US.
The third was made up for 12 assets already owned by Scion and recapitalised by the joint venture partners.
Scion Student Communities now invested $2.9bn in 48 assets in 36 US markets.
