Lone Star Funds to Acquire Portfolio of Nine Purpose-Built Student Accommodation Assets in the UK

DALLAS & NEW YORK & LONDON & TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lone Star Funds (“Lone Star”) today announced that an affiliate of Lone Star Real Estate Fund VII, L.P. has reached an agreement to purchase nine Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (“PBSA”) assets in the UK from affiliates of Unite Students (“Unite”), the UK's largest owner, manager and developer of PBSA, for £212 million, scheduled to close in August 2025.

The portfolio comprises 3,656 beds across nine high-quality PBSA assets in five well-located university markets: Aberdeen, Leicester, Leeds, Nottingham and Sheffield. The assets present an opportunity for value creation through targeted capital investment and operational enhancements.

“This transaction aligns with Lone Star’s global strategy of investing in resilient sectors of the housing market where we can leverage our expertise to unlock long-term value,” said Jérôme Foulon, Global Head of Commercial Real Estate for Lone Star. “We continue to see attractive opportunities in the UK’s PBSA sector, which benefits from the growing student population demand and a continued shortage of high-quality accommodation.”

This acquisition marks Lone Star’s second transaction with Unite in the past three years and further expands the firm’s presence in the UK student housing sector. With this latest investment, Lone Star’s PBSA portfolio now exceeds 10,000 beds in the market, offering enhanced scale and geographic diversification across top-tier university locations.

About Lone Star

Lone Star is a leading private equity firm advising funds that invest globally in corporate equity, credit, real estate and other financial assets. Since the establishment of its first fund in 1995, Lone Star has organized 25 private equity funds with aggregate capital commitments totaling approximately $95 billion. The firm organizes its funds in three series: the Opportunity Fund series; the Commercial Real Estate Fund series; and the U.S. Residential Mortgage Fund series. Lone Star invests on behalf of its limited partners, which include institutional investors such as pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, as well as foundations and endowments that support medical research, higher education, and other philanthropic causes. For more information regarding Lone Star Funds, go to www.lonestarfunds.com.