Canada Pension Makes First Bet on U.S. Student Housing

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board on Monday made its first foray into the U.S. student housing market.

The CPPIB will own a 47.5% stake in a $1.6 billion portfolio of university student housing, which the pension fund has committed to buy along with two other investors.

More details from the Wall Street Journal:

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Singapore’s sovereign-wealth fund have teamed with Scion Group LLC to buy a U.S. university student-housing portfolio for about $1.4 billion, the group said Monday.

CPPIB, Singapore’s GIC Private Ltd. and student-housing operator Scion agreed to buy University House Communities Group Inc., which has a portfolio of 18 established U.S. student-housing communities and four in development, from InvenTrust Properties Corp.

The Canadian fund and GIC will each own a 47.5% stake in a newly formed joint venture that will purchase the portfolio, while Scion will own the remaining 5%. Scion will operate the properties, the group said.

“This transaction enables us to gain immediate scale in the attractive U.S. student housing market,” Peter Ballon, CPPIB’s head of real-estate investments for the Americas, said in a news release.

The group said it plans to pursue other opportunities to purchase student housing in the U.S.

CPPIB manages about $197 billion in assets.

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