Property investment group to sell university accommodation buildings

Evans Property Group is disposing its remaining interests in two York University student accommodation properties, following the sale of Constantine College earlier this month.

The Leeds-based property investment and development company has retained Deloitte Real Estate to assist in the sale of the student accommodation properties on the Heslington East Campus.

Evans Property Group sold its 50% stake in the 622-bed Constantine College accommodation to the University for £9.8m.

Constantine College was one of three student college blocks built in partnership and owned in equal share by the Evans Property Group and the University in 2014.

The development was part of the University’s plans to double its physical size through a £750m campus extension on Heslington East.

Deloitte is now working with Evans Property Group to assist in disposing of its remaining 50% share in the two remaining colleges, comprising of 1,240 beds.

Chris Baldwin, partner at Deloitte Real Estate, said: “Having a property that provides a long-term income, underpinned by a University guarantee, is a rarity in today’s market. We’ve already had significant interest from overseas investors in this and I expect these assets to be well sought-after.”

Paul Millington, group finance director for Evans Property Group, added: “We are delighted with our recent sale to the University, where we achieved an exit multiple of around 20x net income for the deal.

“Whilst this sale was subject to a pre-emption in favour of the University, our remaining interests are not, so we can take it to the open market. We hope our interests will be highly attractive to investors looking for long-term inflationary-linked secure income backed by low-cost, long-term debt.”