Cetim, a Brussels-based developer, has created a vehicle to invest €150 million in the purpose built segment of student housing (Pbsa). The company plans to grow rapidly in the domestic market, according to Victor Franco, Partner and CEO of Cetim.
The group, founded in 1996 and with a presence in Belgium, France, Switzerland and Portugal, is currently building three student residences in Seville, Granada and Zaragoza, with a total of 846 rooms. These projects have been carried out through the Cetim Real Estate joint venture, in which another Belgian developer, Promiris, has also participated.
To reaffirm its commitment to the Spanish Pbsa market, Cetim created another vehicle in 2021, Cetim Student, with an investment target of 150 million euros. Unlike the first vehicle, Cetim controls full ownership of Cetim Student.
Cetim Student's strategy will follow that of the previous vehicle: identify attractive land in secondary cities in the country with a strong presence of the university community, build the asset, sign an operator and proceed to sell the asset. The company plans to start developing seven new student residences in the next financial year.
The developer has already signed a commitment with the Belgian company Xior for the sale of the residences in Seville (416 rooms) and Granada (250 beds) once the construction work is completed. Xior announced an investment of seventy million euros in the purchase of the assets. In addition, Cetim has also announced that the three residences under development will be managed by the French operator Odalys.
"We don't have a special agreement with Xior, although up to now it has been the main buyer of our projects," says Franco, who points out that "we are talking to other investors; for example, we sold some of our student residence projects in Portugal to AG Real Estate, a Belgian insurance company," he concludes.