TPG and Urbania join forces to invest in Spanish student housing

The American private equity firm TPG enters the Spanish student housing business alongside local developer Urbania. 

TPG Real Estate Partners (TREP), the real estate arm of TPG specializing in alternative assets, and Urbania have announced the acquisition of a portfolio with three purpose-built student accommodations (PBSA) in Spain, which will be operated by their new joint venture Bcome. 

The acquired assets are in some of Spain’s main student cities, Madrid, Salamanca and Pamplona and the latest PBSA asset opened in September whilst the other two are still under development. The three assets have a total of 1,000 beds spaced in individual rooms with bathrooms as well as common areas, leisure rooms, a gym and a swimming pool.

TREP and Urbania are looking to acquire other purpose-built student housing and development projects to attend the high demand that these types of assets have experienced in the past years. TREP is already active in Germany and Portugal, with student-housing platforms Campus Living and Lumino, respectively. They have been advised by EY and JLL on the transaction. 

Michael Abel, Partner at TPG, gives insight on the deal: “We have been studying the student-housing market in Europe for many years. Thus, we are pleased to partner with Urbania to build a portfolio of assets that provides students from all over Spain with affordable and high-quality accommodation options. Despite the growing number of national and international students, Spain remains one of the most underserved European markets in terms of student accommodation.”

Alberto López, Managing Partner at Urbania, adds: “We are delighted to be partnering with TPG in a joint mission to increase the quality of student accommodation in the Iberian market. TREP’s deep investment expertise complements our local market experience as investors, promoters and operators of real estate assets. We rapidly established ourselves as first movers in this market and have a proven ability to develop excellent projects.”