AXA IM Alts has secured circa €660m of additional capital commitments from a mix of new international institutional and sovereign wealth fund investors, for its European Student Accommodation Strategy (ESAS).
This takes committed equity into the strategy to circa €1.3bn as the company looks to increase its investment into the European purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) and co-living sectors.
The strategy has been seeded with AXA IM Alts’ The Boost Society platform, which comprises a fully integrated student housing and co-living operator and portfolio providing circa 2,900 beds that was originally formed in October 2019 when AXA IM Alts acquired KLEY Group.
Since then, AXA IM Alts has built a platform of circa 8,300 PBSA and co-living beds across Spain and France. An additional initial circa 3,900 beds are planned to be delivered across a secured, 10-asset development pipeline that is set to increase the portfolio to nearly 12,000 beds by 2028. AXA IM Alts has also identified further additional opportunities to help grow the platform.
ESAS will seek to acquire a mix of standing assets, ground up developments and former office conversion opportunities, through both asset and platform investments. It will target further growth in its existing markets, and France in particular, while continuing to look at opportunities in core European cities.
Timothee Rauly, global co-head of real estate at AXA IM Alts, said: “The European student housing market continues to benefit from a number of structural demographic and societal tailwinds, which have underpinned its resilience during the recent period of economic volatility.
“Having proven the ESAS concept by establishing The Boost Society as a leading, high-quality multi-branded student and co-living portfolio since acquiring KLEY in 2019, it is a natural next step to bring in third party capital to accelerate the platform’s growth and capitalise on the sector’s compelling fundamentals.”
Florence Dard, global head of client group, Alts at AXA IM, added: “The €660m of third-party capital commitments we have raised from European and Asian pension and sovereign wealth funds for our European Student Accommodation Strategy reflect the quality of the seed portfolio and AXA IM Alts’ strong track record of acquiring, growing and managing alternative real estate platforms such as ESAS. This new capital will help drive our ambitions to grow ESAS into a circa €3bn PBSA and co-living platform by 2031.”
