GIC Said to Seek Minority Investor for $2.2B Aussie Student Housing Platform Iglu

Singapore sovereign fund GIC is seeking to sell a minority stake in Australian student housing operator Iglu in a deal expected to value the platform at A$3 billion ($2.2 billion), according to a media report.

The proposed transaction would bring in a passive capital partner without operational control or board influence, with Citi and CBRE understood to be running the process, The Australian said Sunday. First-round bids are expected within two or three weeks, with the campaign potentially attracting pension funds seeking exposure to Australia’s growing student housing sector.

The passive investment structure is also expected to narrow the field of prospective buyers by excluding large-scale existing operators whose involvement could trigger competition scrutiny, including Brookfield-backed Journal Student Living and The Living Company’s Scape platform.

GIC had not responded to a Mingtiandi request for comment at the time of publication.

Portfolio Scales Up

Sydney-based Iglu operates 15 student housing assets across Australia’s eastern seaboard, including eight properties in Sydney, five in Melbourne and two in Brisbane, with a portfolio spanning more than 6,000 beds in operation or under development.

The company was founded in 2010 by apartment developer Meriton and Global Student Accommodation before GIC and Macquarie Capital acquired a majority stake in the business in 2014. The platform at the time comprised over 900 beds across three properties in Sydney and Brisbane with a total portfolio value of A$150 million. Iglu added 1,043 beds three years later with the purchase of two Sydney student blocks from Frasers Property and Sekisui House.

Iglu’s Sydney portfolio includes assets in Redfern, Central Park, Chatswood and Summer Hill, while its Melbourne properties are concentrated near university precincts in Carlton and South Yarra. The Brisbane portfolio includes assets near the city centre and major campuses.

GIC has also been an active investor in UK student housing through a long-running partnership with US rental housing specialist Greystar. The GIC-Greystar acquisition of Student Roost in 2022 gave the venture control of one of Britain’s largest purpose-built student housing portfolios.

In Australia, the $936 billion Singaporean fund co-owned a student housing portfolio with SGX-listed Wee Hur Holdings until the partners sold the seven-asset, 5,662-bed platform to Greystar last year for A$1.6 billion.

Filling the Gap

Australia’s purpose-built student accommodation market has benefited from a chronic undersupply of beds relative to enrolments, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, where rising rents and tight vacancy have supported occupancy and pricing growth.

Japan’s Samty Holdings acquired a majority stake in student housing operator UniLodge late last year for A$600 million. UniLodge bills itself as the largest operator in the living sector in Australia and New Zealand, managing 45,000 beds under an asset-light model.

The deal expanded Samty’s overseas living strategy less than a year after the Osaka-based developer was taken private in a $1.1 billion buyout backed by Hillhouse Investment’s Rava Partners and Daiwa Securities Group.

Singapore’s Mapletree Investments entered the Australian student housing market earlier this year through a Perth development project, marking the Temasek-owned group’s first local push into the sector. The move came despite distress surrounding Mapletree’s US- and UK-focused student housing private fund, with the Singapore group said to be winding down the $1.3 billion vehicle after weak performance and difficult refinancing conditions.

Brookfield has also been ramping up its Aussie student housing exposure through Journal Student Living, the platform in which the Canadian giant acquired a 50 percent stake in 2023. Journal in March reached structural completion of a 1,010-bed project in Melbourne, part of a three-asset pipeline expected to comprise 2,500 beds upon completion.

The Living Company, which operates the Scape platform, is set to develop a 600-bed student housing tower at Mirvac’s Blackwattle Bay redevelopment in Sydney following its appointment to the project last year. Chicago-based Heitman is also expanding in the sector via a partnership with Erben to develop a 1,146-bed complex in Perth, building on the US fund manager’s 2018 entry into Australia’s market with the 335-bed Infinity Place project in Melbourne.