Student accommodation provider in takeover bid

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Student Lettings:

Student housing
provider Unite is set to acquire rival Liberty Living Group in a £1.4
billion cash and shares deal. It will see Canada’s Pension Plan
Investment Board take a 20 percent stake in the enlarged group, with
Unite also proposing issuing a tranche of new ordinary shares to help
finance the acquisition.

The Unite Group plc
is the United Kingdom’s largest developer and operator of student
accommodation (capitalised at 2.96bn) providing homes for over 50,000
students in approximately 140 properties in over 28 of England and
Scotland’s University towns and cities. It rents its rooms both
directly to students and to approximately 60 Universities across the
United Kingdom.

Unite says it is
confident over future rental growth as the Competition Markets
Authority (CMA) starts its acquisition probe into the deal. The CMA
is to evaluate whether the takeover may be expected to result in a
substantial lessening of competition within the market. To assist it
with this assessment, the CMA invites comments on the transaction
from any interested party

The student
accommodation provider Unite says it remains confident of delivering
its rental growth targets for the next couple of years, as the CMA
starts a phase 1 probe into its proposed £1.4bn acquisition of its
rival.

The company says
that student intake in 2019/20 is projected to be in-line with the
record levels of the past few years, with the resultant continuing
growth in the university cities where it operates.

In-line with its strategy of focusing on the mainly Russell Group university cities, Unite says it has continued to see the strongest growth in student numbers at these higher tariff universities, which have risen by 1.8% compared to last year.

The group says it
remains confident in delivering rental growth of 3.0-3.5% for 2019/20
and 2020/21, including improved utilisation and cost synergies of £4m
in 2020 and £15m a year from 2021. It says it is achieving strong
accommodation performance across its estate, with a reported 98% of
rooms fully let. This has resulted in a strong sales performance this
summer, with revenue up around 40% on last year.

Chief executive
Richard Smith has said:

“Demand for UK
higher education remains robust, as reflected in the record share of
18-year olds choosing to attend University. Student demand also
supports our strategic alignment to mid and higher tariff
universities.

“Despite
increased political and economic uncertainty, we maintain our
positive outlook for the business, reflecting the strength of our
operational and letting performance and opportunities to drive
further improvements in utilisation and efficiency while investing in
further value-added services for our students.”

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