Safanad and Aspen Heights to Recapitalize $400 million Portfolio of Student Housing Properties
September 1, 2015 – Safanad and Aspen Heights, a developer and operator of off campus student housing across the United States, announced ,hey have entered into a strategic partnership to target newly developed purpose built student housing properties at large universities.
As part of this agreement, Safanad and Aspen Heights will recapitalize the ownership of a portfolio of student housing properties currently owned by Aspen Heights and its investment partners. The purchase price of this portfolio is over US $400 million and includes eight properties with over 6,600 beds.The strategic partnership will target both ground-up development and stabilized newly developed student housing properties.
Ziad Dannaoui, Head of Safanad’s Transaction Team and member of its Real Estate board said, “The student housing segment offers attractive risk-adjusted returns and represents a fragmented market with significant opportunity to scale businesses. We have developed an in-depth understanding of the key drivers underpinning student housing and this in turn informs our commitment to this sector.”
Dannaoui added, “Safanad brings proven investment and risk management across a number of specialized industry sectors. Aspen Height’s management team and experience will further support our investments in this real estate sector. We look forward to working with the Aspen Heights team in building out our student housing platform”.
Greg Henry, CEO of Aspen Heights, said, “We are excited about entering into this new partnership with Safanad. We anticipate the cultural alignment between the two firms and our shared vision in the student housing sector to be key to our partnership’s growth and success.”