Amro Partners and Falco Capital have refinanced four operational student housing assets in Spain via a €70 million investment loan from Nuveen Real Estate, one of the largest real estate investment managers in the world with $149 billion of assets under management.
The loan represents a major vote of confidence for the Spanish PBSA sector, which continues to grow in scale and depth. Nuveen Real Estate was attracted by the sector-leading green credentials of the portfolio, comprising projects in Madrid, Valencia, Seville and Pamplona, totalling 1,055 student beds. Amro Seville, which opened in 2022, was Europe’s first PBSA project to be awarded BREEAM Outstanding, WiredScore Platinum and Fitwel 3* certification, followed by Valencia, Madrid and Pamplona which opened in 2023 achieving the same sector-leading ESG standards.
Managed under the "Amro Estudiantes" student housing brand, all four assets are performing strongly and the portfolio is forecast to be fully stabilised by the 2024/25 academic year.
Global investor Nuveen Real Estate manages a suite of funds and mandates, across both public and private investments, spanning both debt and equity across diverse geographies and investment styles, for clients around the world and on behalf of its parent company TIAA (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America). A highly rated insurance company and retirement provider, TIAA is one of the world’s largest institutional investors. Nuveen’s European debt platform has over $5 billion of CRE debt under management and has averaged approximately $1 billion of new lending per year in the last five years.
Raj Kotecha, Chairman and CEO of Amro Partners said: “We are absolutely delighted to begin a relationship with Nuveen, who have proven to be very knowledgeable about the European student housing sector. We share a strong commitment to creating best-in-class green assets that set a new industry benchmark for sustainability.
“European student housing assets continue to perform well in terms of occupancy and rental growth and we are seeing green shoots of recovery in investment activity within the sector following the challenging markets of 2022 and 2023. We are looking forward to scaling up our living sector portfolios during 2024.”
Karolina Wojtowicz, Director at Nuveen Real Estate added: “This facility aligns with our focus as a firm, as we continue to grow exposure to the housing sector in core European markets. The fundamentals of the PBSA market in southern Europe are particularly favourable and we are proud to provide a green loan that supports a portfolio with strong ESG credentials. We expect to continue strengthening our relationship with Amro Partners who have demonstrated a stellar track record with this high quality, stabilised portfolio.”
Amro Partners aims to become a significant player in the European living sector over the coming years, building on its track record of twenty-five transactions to date in the UK, Spain and Portugal. With offices across London, Madrid, Frankfurt and Amsterdam and a dedicated team of 60 professionals, Amro is on course to create a market leading PBSA portfolio in continental Europe over the next 24 months, leveraging its existing actionable pipeline of +5,000 student beds.
Amro Partners and Falco Capital were advised by EastDil Secured and Cushman & Wakefield. Nuveen Real Estate was advised by CMS.
