IQ Student Accommodation explained

IQ Student Accommodation is a British student housing company that owns 70 halls of residence with 30,000 bedrooms. It is owned by Blackstone,[1] one of the world's largest real estate investment firms.

History

In 2016, the Wellcome Trust merged its student accommodation business with Prodigy Living, owned by Goldman Sachs and Greystar Real Estate Partners, thereby founding the company.

In December 2017, IQ Student Accommodation bought Pure Student Living from LetterOne Treasury Services for £869 million, adding 11 sites in London, Edinburgh, York, Bath and Brighton.

As of February 2018, IQ owned 66 student halls, with 28,000 bedrooms, and a valuation of about £3 billion.[2] IQ is the UK's largest provider of purpose-built student accommodation by value, and second largest by number of bedrooms (after Unite Students).[3] IQ has the largest London portfolio, with 6,700 rooms in 15 sites.[2]

In February 2018, Penny Hughes was appointed as chair, joining Rob Roger who was the chief executive (CEO).[3]

In June 2019, it was announced that IQ Student Accommodation was planning to build a cohabitation development in Manchester, not specifically aimed at students.[1] [4] This would be the first development of this kind in Manchester.[1]

In February 2020, Blackstone announced plans to purchase the company for £4.66 billion,[5] in the UK's largest ever private real estate transaction. The deal completed on 15 May 2020.[6]

During April 2023, IQ purchased a 522-bed student accommodation in Nottingham from the Jensco Group for £68.12m (€77.4m).[7]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2020-02-26. Blackstone to buy UK student flats from Goldman for £4.7bn. ft.com.
  2. News: Lynch . Russell . London student digs giant iQ eyes float after £870m buy . 10 September 2018 . Evening Standard . 19 February 2018.
  3. News: RBS director to chair UK's largest student digs company. Rhiannon. Curry. 18 February 2018. The Daily Telegraph. 10 September 2018. www.telegraph.co.uk. The Telegraph.
  4. Web site: Investing in the UK: Where to look. Armstrong. Kate. 2019-06-12. Investors Chronicle. en. 2019-07-12.
  5. News: 2020-02-26. Blackstone to buy British student housing group iQ for $6 billion. en. Reuters. 2020-09-18.
  6. News: 2020-05-15. Goldman Sachs and Wellcome sell iQ Student Accommodation to Blackstone.
  7. Web site: staff2023-04-13T11:37:00+01:00 . I. P. E. . Jensco sells £68m UK student housing asset to Blackstone-owned iQ Student . 2023-05-03 . Real Assets . en.