Student living firm completes £11.6m deal
Njoy Student Living has expanded into the Yorkshire market after securing £15.6m of funding.
The finance deal, secured through Cowgill Holloway’s property finance advisory team, has enabled Njoy to acquire a 298-bed student accommodation block at Carr Mills in Leeds for £11.65m.
It is a division of Njoy Property Group, which was launched in 2004. The acquisition of Carr Mills brings the company’s total portfolio value to over £32m.
Over the last five years Njoy has grown significantly and with the acquisition of Carr Mills it now has over 500 student beds across both Manchester and Leeds. The portfolio includes a range of student facilities at Victoria Park in Manchester including Langdale Hall and Carfax Court as well as premises at Naburn and Welby Street.
Jason Worrall of Njoy said: “Having developed a successful business model over the past 6 years, the time is right for us to expand into other cities across the north and Leeds was our top choice. This represents a step change for our business in terms of increased numbers of beds and diversification into one of the UK’s most popular student markets. Carr Mills was a good fit for us and this funding facility, together with Cowgill’s invaluable support, has enabled us to bolster our portfolio with a superb offer in another hugely popular University city.
“NJOY Student Living’s business model is to offer high quality, affordable accommodation in the heart of the most popular student areas. Having built a solid portfolio in we began looking at how we could diversify into other northern University cities such as Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and even as far as York. It was important that all of our properties offer the highest possible quality of accommodation as well as remaining accessible to the team for service and maintenance and Carr Mills at Leeds was the perfect fit.”
Cowgill Holloway has worked with NJOY since the company’s inception and was instrumental in securing the original funding for the purchase of the existing portfolio.
David Rainford of Cowgill’s property finance unit said: “We have enjoyed a long-term relationship with NJOY Student Living and have been able to use our knowledge of the property funding sector to help them to develop the business model. As well as supporting the company’s initial student accommodation acquisitions the team at Cowgill’s has added value by providing business support and guidance to the directors over the years and we look forward to seeing the next stage of expansion for this exciting company.”
