Unite Students Secures £400M Refinancing from Rothesay for UK Student Accommodation Portfolio

Specialist pension insurer Rothesay has completed a £400m eight-year investment facility in the purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) sector – refinancing a public securitisation for the Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund (USAF), whose assets are operated and managed by the Unite Group.

The investment is secured against Unite’s high-quality portfolio of 23 PBSA assets located across 15 cities in the UK.

“Rothesay’s in-house asset management and origination teams are dedicated to delivering high-quality, long-term investments like this, providing real retirement security for the over one million people whose pensions we protect. We’re pleased to complete this investment with the Unite Group and continue to grow our support for the higher education sector, which plays a vital role in the UK economy.” – Harish Haridas, Head of Commercial Real Estate, Rothesay

The Unite Group is the largest owner, manager, and developer of UK PBSA assets with around 68,000 bedrooms across 153 properties. Established in 2006, USAF is the largest specialist student accommodation fund in the UK.

“It was great to partner with Rothesay on this transaction – they were very diligent while also being pragmatic throughout the process. This new £400m loan will increase available liquidity and keeps us well-positioned to deliver on our strategy, all while keeping our average cost of debt in line with expectations.” – Gary Leadbeater, Director of Group Treasury and FP&A, Unite Group

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