Investcorp Acquires Four Student Housing Portfolio in US

Investcorp Capital, an investor in private markets and alternative investment opportunities, on Tuesday announced that it has acquired four student housing acquisitions in three states in the US totalling more than 2,500 beds for a gross transaction value of over $300 million in aggregate.

The acquisitions include a 792-bed, 99%-occupied property at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, a 486-bed, 98%-occupied property at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas; a 699-bed, 96%-occupied property at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky; and a 684-bed, 99%-occupied property at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma.

This builds on Investcorp Capital’s investments in the US student housing, with $160 million previously invested in the University of Florida and the University of Texas at Austin.

Investcorp has owned and managed some 20,000 student housing beds across approximately 30 investments since entering the sector more than a decade ago.

Since 1996, the company has acquired about 1,400 properties with a total value of more than $26 billion. The firm has approximately $11.2 billion in global real estate assets under management.

Aligns with Business Model

The investment activity aligns with the company’s business model and its commitment to seeking to pay strong semi-annual dividends of at least 8% per annum, Investcorp Capital said in a bourse filing with Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) this morning.

Investcorp CEO Tim Mattar said that the US student housing sector continues to perform well, and they believe the robust fundamentals of this asset class will translate into strong performance and compelling risk-adjusted returns for investors.

With more than 22 million college students in the US, there is significant demand for housing which many of the top universities struggle to meet, leading students to hunt for off-campus options. Combined with growing enrolment and steady rent growth, Investcorp believes this will create a favourable operating dynamics which support our long-term conviction in the asset class, Mattar added.

Mohamed Aamer, Incoming Interim CEO of Investcorp Capital, said that there are attractive opportunities to be found within real estate, and as an asset class it continues to show solid performance. Investcorp Capital is committed to delivering positive, risk-adjusted returns for investors, and will continue to target growth sectors across our asset classes, he added.

According to the latest Yardi Matrix national student housing report, 50 universities of the 200 surveyed hit at least 99% occupancy in September, including large schools such as Illinois State, Ole Miss, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, James Madison, Purdue and Virginia Tech.

The report also said that the surveyed preleasing across Yardi 200 universities reached 94.5% at the end of the fall 2024 leasing season, down 10 basis points year-over-year. By September, more than half of Yardi 200 schools were at least 95 percent preleased, the report added.