Greystar reportedly in talks to buy $1.1B Australian student housing portfolio

Dive Brief:

Greystar is in talks with two Singapore-based investors, GIC and Wee Hur Holdings, to acquire their jointly owned $1.1 billion ($1.6 billion Australian dollars) portfolio of student housing properties in Australia, according to Mingtiandi, a Beijing-based real estate publication.
If finalized, the deal would include seven properties with a total of 5,662 student beds, located across five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra.
The Charleston, South Carolina-based multifamily giant is said to be in exclusive talks for the portfolio purchase and is also in talks with Australian investors to raise capital for the deal, according to Mingtiandi.

Dive Insight:

GIC, which is said to have a 49.9% stake in the portfolio, is expected to exit when a deal is made, according to Mingtiandi. The publication’s sources indicated that Wee Hur may retain some portion of their stake.

Wee Hur released a statement to its shareholders on Oct. 17 in response to reporting from the Australian Financial Review on the potential transaction.

“The Company wishes to inform its shareholders that it is currently engaged in early-stage confidential discussions with a third party involving its purpose-built student accommodation business in Australia, which may or may not lead to a transaction,” the statement reads. “There is no certainty whatsoever that these discussions will result in any definitive agreement or transaction materialising.”

Wee Hur’s website lists eight properties in its purpose-built student housing business, developed between 2015 and 2024. The largest, Unilodge Park Central, a 1,578-bed property in Brisbane, is known to be part of the portfolio.

Greystar declined to comment to Multifamily Dive about the deal. The company, ranked the No. 1 owner, operator and developer in the U.S., presently owns six assets in Australia, according to Mingtiandi. It completed a 612-unit rental property in Melbourne in August, valued at AU $500 million, or $332 million.

The company has $17.8 billion in student housing assets across the world, with over 110,000 beds under management, according to its website. It also broke ground on a 540-bed residence hall at Merrimack College in Andover, Massachusetts, in September.