“We are interested in the Mansion Portfolio,” said Coral’s chief executive John Kennedy. “There are parts that could be suitable for the Coral Fund and others that would hold interest for our private investors with a different risk profile.”
Kennedy added: “These are exciting times in private student accommodation as it matures in the UK and presents fresh global opportunities.”
The Mansion Student Accommodation Fund closed to redemptions in October 2013 in the wake of fund closures at UK property investor Brandeaux earlier that year. It had been forced to close when oversupply concerns in the student accommodation market triggered problems with market liquidity and pressure from investors to redeem their investments.
Kennedy said the Knight Frank review of the Guernsey-based Mansion Student Accommodation Fund found that since the fund was closed the sector has grown in appeal to institutional and international investors.
According to the Knight Frank review in 2014 there was over £2bn worth of transactions in the sector with the strongest investments coming from UK financial institutions, US equity houses and high net worth individuals, he said.
Kennedy believes the issues at Brandeaux and Mansion were down to structural flaws rather than any problems in the sector.
“We weathered the period when Brandeaux and Mansion closed and have come through a lot stronger with a 50% institutional shareholder. Our Fund is now being adopted by family offices and institutions as well as IFAs,” he said.
“In that context we are keen to look at all potential acquisition deals including this Mansion Portfolio. It will probably attract competitive bids but we are just saying that whenever Mansion are ready to put it to market we would be interested in assessing it,” Kennedy said.
