Centurion to acquire its 2nd student dorm in Nottingham for £15.1m

Published Mon, Dec 9, 2019 · 12:47 AM
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DORMITORY developer Centurion Corp has agreed to buy a 177-bed student accommodation asset in the British city of Nottingham for £15.1 million (about S$26.98 million).

The asset, dwell Archer House - located at 14-22 Castle Gate, is in the city centre and near the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University. It is also within walking distance to dwell Castle Gate Haus, Centurion's first purpose-built student accommodation asset in Nottingham.

The accommodation, which Centurion will manage under its dwell brand, comprises 93 studios and 84 en-suite rooms. dwell Archer House completed construction in late September 2018. According to the company, it had achieved 100 per cent occupancy over the course of 2019, and continues to enjoy full occupancy for the current academic year 2019/20.

The purchase price took into account a £15.15 million valuation by Cushman and Wakefield UK conducted on Dec 5, 2019.

Completion of the deal is slated for December this year. If completed, the acquisition will increase Centurion's total student and workers accommodation portfolio to 33 assets globally, and its number of beds under management to about 65,133. Within the UK, Centurion will operate about 2,852 beds across 11 student accommodation assets, in five cities.

Centurion said the current supply and pipeline of student housing in Nottingham can accommodate just 44.4 per cent of the total student population there, with 55.6 per cent of unmet demand.

Centurion chief executive Kong Chee Min said in a statement: "Our student accommodation portfolio in the UK has continued to benefit from the positive supply-demand dynamics of the student accommodation sector, and Nottingham is one of the key cities that we are keen to expand.

"dwell Castle Gate Haus has achieved close to full occupancy in the current academic year and we expect dwell Archer House to similarly perform well. We will manage both assets with the same team on-site, allowing us to enjoy economies of scale."

Centurion shares closed at 44 Singapore cents on Friday, down 1.1 per cent, or 0.5 cent.

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