Far East Orchard launches inaugural student accommodation fund with first close of GBP70 mil
Alan Tang, group chief executive officer of Far East Orchard, states: “Having operated in the UK PBSA company since 2015, we have already established a record in the marketplace and continue to be assured in the market given its strong fundamentals, strong person need, and architectural supply-demand gap.”
According to an Aug 22 statement, FESAD is going to invest in Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) development ventures throughout the UK.
Tang adds: “Moving into the fee-based financial investment management business is a natural development along with our current running fee-based model to leverage our financial investment and property monitoring capacities in the PBSA operation in the UK.”
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The start of the fund complies with Far East Orchard’s acquisition of a 49% involvement in Homes For College Students, the UK’s largest independent PBSA provider, reported in April.
According to Far East Orchard’s results for 1HFY2024 ended June 30, appointments for its UK PBSA portfolio for the school year commencing September stood at approximately 92%.
The fund is currently seeded with a property site in Glasgow, Scotland, that was acquired in March, where a 273-bed enrollee room project will certainly be built. The fund is going to target “high-potential” PBSA development plans in the UK, states Far East Orchard and the conclusion of its first sealing of GBP70 million.
Far East Orchard’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Far East Orchard Investments (UK) Pte Ltd, has committed GBP35 million of the GBP70 million carried out by certain partners.
Far East Orchard says there is greater interest for both university places and university student accommodation in the UK. Citing CBRE data, Far East Orchard says there is a present shortage of 580,000 beds in the UK.
Far East Orchard has already launched its first private fund in Singapore, the FE UK Student Accommodation Development Fund. The mainboard-listed company also introduced the initial close of GBP70 million ($ 120.13 million), together with the budget’s intended accumulation commitment of GBP100 million.
