Ascott establishes $204.8m new student accommodation

The freehold is the ninth in Ascott's student accommodation portfolio in a year.

Ascott, CapitaLand Investment's lodging business unit, has established a development venture totalling $204.8m (US$150m) in committed equity to develop student accommodation assets in the US.

Called Student Accommodation Development Venture (SAVE), Ascott will manage the venture and hold a 20% stake in the joint venture while the remaining stake will be held by Riyad Capital. SAVE is a 779-bed Class A freehold student accommodation development asset in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. The asset is slated for completion by August 2023 and will serve over 25,000 students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Head of Business Development and Investment Asset Management, Mak Hoe Kit said, "We are excited to work with our partner in SAVE to deploy into suitable student accommodation opportunities. More than just a hospitality company, as a vertically-integrated owner and operator of lodging properties around the world, Ascott has the distinct capacity to create value by connecting our partners with investment opportunities. Leveraging our extensive local knowledge, we can access favourable off-market investment deals, and match them with a ready pool of trusted capital partners. We will continue to seek more like-minded partners to set up new capital partnerships for a range of resilient lodging assets."

With the new acquisition, Ascott has invested about $875m (US$648.9m) to build a diversified and quality portfolio of nine student accommodation assets in a year via its funds and its sponsored trust, Ascott Residence Trust. Seven of the student accommodation assets are operational.