DLA Piper advises Harrison Street on sale of student accommodation assets to GSA

DLA Piper has advised Harrison Street, an investment management firm exclusively focused on alternative real estate assets, on the sale of seven purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) properties, to Global Student Accommodation (GSA).

The transaction combines the acquisition of Harrison Street’s interest in six assets held in an existing joint venture partnership with GSA, and the acquisition of Scotway House, Glasgow, which Harrison Street held in a joint venture partnership with Structured House Group. Located in top-tier university cities across the UK, the portfolio of seven properties consists of 2,171 beds serving students attending City University of London, London School of Economics, Newcastle University, Northumbria University, University of Lincoln, Nottingham Trent University, Sheffield Hallam University, University of Exeter and University of Glasgow.

Harrison Street is Headquartered in Chicago with offices in London, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington DC. It employs more than 200 employees and has over USD464 billion in assets under management. Clients of the firm include a global institutional investor base domiciled in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Latin America.

GSA was established over 30 years ago and is the global leader in student housing. It is located in nine countries, with USD5.4 billion of assets under management and is a trusted partner globally to some of the world’s leading institutional investors, funds, sovereign wealth funds, family offices and professional investors looking to access or further expand into the student housing sector.

This transaction concludes the sale of all assets from Harrison Street’s debut European fund.

The multi-disciplinary DLA Piper team was led by London-based partners Paul Jayson (Real Estate) and Jon Kenworthy (Corporate), supported by partners Katie Jacobson (Birmingham, Real Estate), Christopher Chan (London, Finance), Drew Wallace (Edinburgh, Real Estate), Sam Szlezinger (London, Litigation & Regulatory), David Smith (Leeds, Tax) and Peter Lowe (London, Real Estate).