Centurion, which owns, develops and manages quality accommodation assets, announces the proposed acquisition of a 103-bed freehold student accommodation asset in Nottingham. The asset is operational and expected to be accretive upon completion.
The asset will be acquired at a purchase consideration of £10.445m. The acquisition will increase the Group’s purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) portfolio in the UK, to 2,910 beds in 11 assets across five cities, including five assets in Manchester, one asset each in Liverpool, Bristol and Newcastle, and three in Nottingham. It will also increase Centurion’s global student accommodation portfolio to 20 assets with 6,183 beds located across 13 cities in the UK, Australia, the US and South Korea.
This asset, which was built in 2018 and currently operates as The Orbital, will be rebranded as dwell Orbital upon completion of the proposed acquisition and managed with the Group’s two existing PBSA assets in Nottingham – dwell Castle Gate Haus and dwell Archer House, delivering operational synergies.
Located at Canning Circus, dwell Orbital is a short walk to Nottingham Trent University and accessible to the University of Nottingham. It is served by retail and food and beverage outlets, as well as various attractions and entertainment venues such as the Old Market Square, Nottingham Castle and Museum, Theatre Royal, The Park Tennis Club and Nottingham Playhouse.
Nottingham has a strong PBSA market anchored by the University of Nottingham, a Russell Group University, and Nottingham Trent University, one of the largest universities in the UK. Nottingham City Council estimates that there will be a shortfall of 2,000 PBSA beds in Nottingham even after all current pipeline beds are completed, and a further shortfall of 5,000 PBSA beds by the 2024/2025 academic year.
“We are pleased to be growing our portfolio capacity in Nottingham, which continues to have positive market dynamics from growing demand coupled with an under supply of PBSA beds. The new asset is expected to be accretive upon the proposed acquisition’s completion, and we will be able to further tap on management synergies in Nottingham and the UK.”
Mr Kong Chee Min (江志明), CEO, Centurion Corporation
The Group’s UK portfolio saw strong recovery of occupancies in the 2021/22 academic year. The Orbital and Centurion’s two existing PBSA assets in Nottingham, dwell Castle Gate Haus and dwell Archer House, currently enjoy close to full occupancy for 2021/22.
Centurion, together with its subsidiaries, owns, develops and manages purpose-built workers accommodation assets in Singapore and Malaysia, and student accommodation assets in Australia, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Group owns and manages a portfolio of 36 operational accommodation assets totalling approximately 64,389 beds as of 31 March 2022.
