Empiric Student Property in £9m apartment deal amid postgrad expansion
Empiric Student Property has acquired a £9m block of flats alongside an expansion of its postgraduate offering.
The company, which runs student accommodation at top UK universities, said it had completed the buyout of Selly Oak Apartments in Birmingham, a stone’s throw from the University of Birmingham.
Empiric said it the acquisition, which is its second following an equity fundraise last October, had grown its total operational beds in this cluster to 430.
The remaining £10m in funds has been allocated to its postgraduate refurbishment pipeline, where it has three sites preparing for development.
“The acquisition of Selly Oak Apartments completes the deployment of proceeds which were earmarked for acquisition opportunities, in line with returns indicated,” Duncan Garrood, Chief Executive Officer of Empiric Student Property, said.
“Birmingham is a top-tier University city where over 50,000 students currently seek accommodation in a city with provision of only 27,500 PBSA beds, and less than 10,000 new beds currently consented for future development.”
Empiric on Thursday also said it had received planning consent from Bristol City Council to transform a former office building into a 57-bed postgraduate accomodation scheme.
The building, College House, is adjacent to the College Green site near the University of Bristol campus.
Shares in Empiric Student Property are up around five per cent this year to date.
“This acquisition, together with the planning consent achieved to expand our Bristol cluster, supports the strategy outlined in the October equity raise of growing a portfolio of high quality buildings which enhance shareholder returns and benefit from increasing alignment to top-tier universities (currently at 87 per cent),” Garrood said.