GSA Makes €110 Million Investment in Mainland Europe

Press Release - 14th July 2016

Following moves into Australia, China, Ireland, Japan, UAE and the UK, GSA announces first German student accommodation portfolio acquisition

GSA, the international student accommodation specialist set up by Nicholas Porter in 2008, today announced it's first entry into the German market with the acquisition of four existing properties and the potential for further pipeline projects, in total comprising some 1,500 beds.

With an investment of over €110 million, GSA has acquired the existing residences, known as the Headquarter portfolio, from Devario Invest, the family office of Torsten Toeller, founder and chairman of Fressnapf.

The portfolio had been built and operated by Devario since 2012 and features properties across four of the country’s largest university cities; Münster, Dresden Darmstadt and Frankfurt. The residences are in prime central locations, close to the leading universities in those cities.

The move marks the start of a five-year strategy by GSA to build a 10,000-bed portfolio in Germany under its Uninest brand, and exploit an under-supplied market for purpose-built accommodation in Europe’s largest economy.

Germany is one of Europe’s most popular destinations for foreign students but just 10 – 12% of the student population lives in purpose-built accommodation. The supply-demand imbalance has delivered strong occupancies and high rental yields across the Headquarter portfolio.

Tim Mitchell, CEO of GSA Europe said: “Our research team has carefully evaluated the major university destinations in Europe and we regard Germany as one of Europe’s top educational markets and an ideal platform for growth across the Continent.”

Frank Pfirsching, Managing Director, Germany said: “This is a great time to introduce the Uninest brand to the German market. All the evidence points to rising student numbers but there is a critical under-supply of purpose-built stock. These are already high-quality assets but we are confident of improving the investment proposition through Uninest.”

As a global investor, developer and operator of purpose-built student communities, GSA is on an exciting growth trajectory across Europe and key student accommodation markets globally. It continues to build its pipeline in Ireland and the UK.

GSA is also the only student accommodation provider to go global, it has a global operating platform to service the growing demand of globally mobile higher education students. It has properties open in Dubai, Dublin, the UK, Japan, China and Australia. The German acquisition is part of a wider expansion into northern Europe by Nicholas Porter’s GSA team, who has a track record over 25 years in the student accommodation sector.

The re-branding of the Headquarter portfolio to GSA’s student brand Uninest will involve a series of improvements – including refurbishments, cutting edge connectivity and community spaces – that will add value to both student residents and investors.

Osborne Clarke and Warth & Klein Grant Thornton represented GSA in the transaction while PricewaterhouseCoopers and Catella Property advised the seller.

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For further information, contact; Tabitha.aldrich-Smith@gsa-gp.com

Mobile: +44 7971 919610

Notes to editors 

The drivers for growth in Germany’s higher education market

• GSA’s entry to the German market comes at a time when the Government is encouraging investment in higher education to stimulate demand among foreign students.
• There are currently some 2.8 million full-time students studying in Germany’s higher education institutions, with 4% of students from outside Germany.
• Germany was the fourth largest recipient of international students in 2015, according to UNESCO.
• Munich and Berlin feature in the top 12 of the global QS Best Student Cities 2016 Rankings.
• Nine German universities feature in the top 150 of the QS World University Rankings 2015/16, with 18 in the top 270 and 36 in the top 500.
• In the year to July 2014, there were 319,283 enrolments by full-fee paying international students in Germany on a student visa, representing a 6% increase on the previous year.
• Germany’s higher education sector has introduced internationally comparable courses as well as an increasingly common use of English as language of instruction.
• Unlike the US and UK, tuition fees are low in Germany while living expenses are generally lower than in other European countries.
• According to two studies, only 10 to 12% of students in Germany live in student accommodation.

GSA Group and Harrison Street Joint Venture Announce New €60m Student Housing Project

Press Release - 9th March 2016 - Chicago and Dublin

High-Quality Accommodation Planned for Former IDA Site on Gardiner Street in Dublin

Gardiner Street, Dublin

The joint venture between Global Student Accommodation Group (GSA) and Harrison Street Real Estate Capital (Harrison Street) announced plans to create Dublin’s largest accommodation for almost 500 students after acquiring the former IDA site at Gardiner Street, Dublin 1.

The joint venture will invest a total of €60 million in the site to create a seven-storey building housing student flats, all with ensuite bathrooms.

Tim Mitchell, CEO of GSA Europe said: “This development is the latest phase in GSA and Harrison Street’s commitment to invest €250 million in student accommodation in Dublin to provide much-needed homes and new accommodation choices for students studying in the city. We believe that this will be a real catalyst to the redevelopment of the Gardiner Street area.

“GSA is committed to building and developing high quality housing for today’s hard-working students by providing everything they need to forge a real sense of community within their living spaces.”

Christopher Merrill, co-founder, president and CEO of Harrison Street, said, “We are pleased to continue our partnership with GSA to develop high-quality student accommodation in the underserved Dublin market. Harrison Street’s significant experience investing in student housing in the United States will continue to benefit our partners and investors as we seek to capitalize on this attractive opportunity in Europe.”

The site, within close walking distance of Trinity College and Dublin Institute of Technology, is expected to be popular with students looking for high-quality homes close to Dublin’s centres of learning. As Dublin’s tram system expansion comes online, Gardiner Street will witness improved links across the city, with a stop less than 2 minute walk from the new student building.

The site has already been granted planning permission and the seven-storey building will house 491 beds, arranged as flats with ensuite bathrooms. The upper storeys will have spectacular views across the city and the scheme will offer cafe facilities on the ground floor. Carrowmore Property will be responsible for the construction and delivery of the project, which will be ready for the September 2017 student intake.

In December last year GSA and Chicago-based real estate private equity firm Harrison Street announced an agreement to invest €250 million in student accommodation in Dublin over the next five years.

At the same time they revealed plans for the first development of the joint venture, a 400-bedroom development in Mill Street, Dublin 8 – along with shops, a restaurant and office space for local businesses.

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For GSA media enquiries please contact: Tabitha Aldrich-Smith:
GSA Group:

+44 (0) 7971 919610 taldrichsmith@gsa-gp.com

For Harrison Street media enquiries please contact: Jonathan Gasthalter/Jacob Crows: Sard Verbinnen & Co: 312-895-4700

About GSA Group

GSA created the Student Accommodation Sector. The GSA management team, lead by its founder Nicholas Porter, has been pioneering the purpose built student accommodation industry for nearly 25 years.

The have brought more than $3 billion of global finance into the sector, creating communities and spaces for students to grow and industry standards such as end-user research, university guarantees and partnerships, standard operating processes, space saving room layouts, online bookings, student integration and customer service levels.

Nicholas Porter previously founded London and Australia’s Urbanest student accommodation brand and also The UNITE Group plc which he grew to become a FTSE 250 company. The UK asset class attracts global investment and is now estimated to be worth over $30 billion.

GSA has nine offices around the world in Dublin, Bristol, London, Frankfurt, Dubai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo and Sydney.

About Harrison Street

Harrison Street is a real estate private equity firm founded in 2005 by real estate veteran Christopher Merrill, Chris Galvin (former Chairman & CEO of Motorola) & Mike Galvin (former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Commerce Department for Export Administration) that directly and through its affiliates, has approximately $10.4 billion in assets under management (AUM) through commingled funds and public securities products. The commingled funds focus exclusively on the education, healthcare and storage segments of the US & European real estate markets. Since inception, the Firm has acquired or developed approximately $13.9 billion of real estate throughout 602 properties in 44 states including over 107,000 student housing beds, more than 17,000 senior housing units, over 6.1 million square feet of medical office space, and more than 97,000 self-storage units. As used in this press release, unless the context otherwise requires, “Harrison Street” or the “Firm” refers collectively to Harrison Street Real Estate Capital LLC (“HSRE”), its subsidiaries, including Harrison Street Advisors LLC, Harrison Street University and Harrison Street Securities LLC, an affiliate of HSRE. For more information please visit www.harrisonst.com.

GSA Snaps Up Campus Estates For $21 Million In First Australian Acquisition

Press release - Sydney, Hong Kong, - Wednesday, 2nd March 2016

Pelham Street, Australia

Leading student accommodation provider GSA has made its first acquisition since re-entering the Australian market, agreeing terms to pay $21 million for Campus Estates, as it begins moving towards a target of 25,000 student beds.

The deal, announced today, includes the acquisition of a prime 350-bed student accommodation development in Carlton, Melbourne and other pipeline projects on completion.

As part of the deal, Campus Estates founder Jon Whittle will join GSA as Head of Real Estate for Australia, with primary focus on leading the pipeline acquisition and overall strategic direction of the real estate business. Jon has nearly 20 years of sector experience and has been developing student accommodation in Australia for over 5 years.

GSA also announced today that it had bolstered its management team in Australia with the appointment of Craig Oliver, who joins as Commercial Director. Craig has more than 10 years of experience in operations in the Higher Education sector and joins GSA from Macquarie University where he was CEO of the University’s commercial and student life entity. Craig will be responsible for university relations, property operations, branding, sales and marketing.

Simon Loveridge, Managing Director, GSA Group Asia Pacific commented: “We are delighted with the acquisition as it will fast-track our re-emergence into the student market and Jon and Craig’s experience will be invaluable in helping us grow the business across Australia and New Zealand.”

Jon Whittle said: “I am excited to be part of a company that is focused on being the

leading provider of student accommodation in the region. GSA represents the pinnacle of student hospitality across the world and to be leading the real estate business represents an enormous opportunity, focusing on driving new pipeline across the Australian market. I am really excited.”

Craig Oliver said: “I am excited by the opportunity to be a part of an organisation with a true vision to be a global leader in student accommodation and to make a difference to students’ lives. We have the opportunity to deliver a level of student accommodation above and beyond anything that currently exists within the Australian market. I am excited to align my experience in Australia with GSA’s global track record.”

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For media enquiries please contact:

Grant Titmus at Red Agency on grant.titmus@redagency.com.au or (03) 9670 8350.

About GSA Group

GSA is not simply in the student accommodation sector, GSA created it. For GSA, accommodation is not simply about a physical place to live, but rather about a better way to live. GSA Group is the first truly global leader in student accommodation. GSA provides communities where students live, in the best real estate and university markets. The GSA management team, lead by its founder Nicholas Porter, pioneered the purpose built student accommodation industry for nearly 25 years, creating industry standards such as end-user research, university guarantees and partnerships, standard operating processes, space saving room layouts, online bookings, student integration and customer service levels. Porter founded London and Australia’s Urbanest student accommodation brand and previously The UNITE Group plc which he grew to become a FTSE 250 company. The UK asset class attracts global investment and is now estimated to be worth over $30 billion. Counter to recessionary pressures, the global student accommodation market is in growth and there are also many other rapidly expanding markets, each underpinned by government policies to increase participation in higher education. Having created 60,000 study bedrooms across 44 markets in 8 countries worth over $US7.5 billion, GSA is inspired by the business model of the global hotel industry to expand and improve the scale, reach and service levels associated with student accommodation. GSA has expanded from Europe and the Middle East into Asia and has operations in Sydney, Tokyo, London, Dubai, Hong Kong and Beijing.

Extended biographies - Jon Whittle

Jon Whittle is a qualified Chartered Surveyor with in excess of 27 years property experience having worked in the student accommodation sector since 1998 joining The Unite Group plc founded by Nicholas Porter. At Unite, Jon was the UK Development Director responsible for driving the acquisition and development functions throughout the UK during the period when Unite expanded to in excess of 40,000 beds. More recently, Jon spearheaded Urbanest’s

acquisition and delivery of over 4,000 beds in the Australian market during a 3 year period from 2011 to 2014 across Sydney and Melbourne to add to existing assets in Brisbane and Adelaide. Now acting as Head of Real Estate for GSA in Australia and New Zealand, Jon will be responsible for securing both development and investment opportunities and driving GSA’s target to have 25,000 beds by 2025.

Craig Oliver

Craig has nearly 15 years of higher education and operational experience in Australia joining GSA from his previous role as Director of Campus Life at Macquarie University and CEO U@MQ Ltd (A subsidiary of Macquarie University). In this role Craig led a large team in the delivery of non-academic services including Accommodation, Student Engagement, Orientation, Events, Food and Beverage Services, Functions and Catering, Childcare and Sport and Recreation servicing over 40,000 students and staff. Craig is a graduate from the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has formal qualifications from University of Technology, University of New England and the London Business School.

GSA Asia Pacific Launches New Student Accommodation Business for Australia

Press release - Sydney, Hong Kong, - Wednesday, 24th February 2016

GSA Group, the global leader in student accommodation, is pleased to announce today its reentry into the Australian market and opening of its Sydney based offices, with a target of securing 25,000 beds under management by 2025.

The GSA team first entered the Australian market in 2007, leading the purpose built student accommodation market and setting industry standards and benchmarks. GSA is reentering the sector and will leverage its 25-year track record and global platform to deliver a market leading student accommodation experience for international and local students studying in Australia’s top university cities.

GSA previously founded the Australian student accommodation brand Urbanest which has investments across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. GSA successfully exited the Urbanest business having created a portfolio of over 4,000 beds.

GSA is established in the UK, Ireland, Germany, UAE, China, Japan and now Australia. GSA is a long term trusted partner of the higher education sector and has developed globally to capitalize on growing higher education markets as well as position itself for the continuing trend of the international student mobility with higher education as Australia’s largest non-mining export industry.

GSA has led the evolution of the student accommodation sector in Australia over the past 8 years to the point that it is now recognized as an exciting emerging institutional asset-grade real estate asset which is supported by attractive demand and supply fundamentals. The chronic supply demand imbalance in the student accommodation sector in Australia will continue to worsen over the next 10 years as the government targets 1 million international students by 2025. In Australia’s key university cities, there is a significant undersupply of purpose built student accommodation representing only 10% of the total student accommodation market, despite an increasing number of operators entering the market.

Simon Loveridge, Managing Director, GSA Group Asia Pacific commented: “We are delighted to announce the continued growth of our Asia Pacific business with the launch of our new Australian business. The UK student accommodation market saw record transaction levels last year with over US$7bn of assets transacted in the sector. We see that Australia has all of the market fundamentals to develop into a more institutional grade asset class given the world leading universities, real estate market and the large and growing international student population.

We will bring GSA’s global platform, systems and operations into the market and deliver a business of scale across Australia.”

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For media enquiries please contact:

Carolyn Grant: Avviso PR: + 61 (0) 293687277 + 61 (0)407898727 carolyng@avviso.com.au or Tabitha Aldrich-Smith: GSA Group Press Office taldrichsmith@gsa-gp.com

About GSA Group

GSA is not simply in the student accommodation sector, GSA created it. For GSA, accommodation is not simply about a physical place to live, but rather about a better way to live.

GSA Group is the first truly global leader in student accommodation. GSA provides communities where students live, in the best real estate and university markets.

The GSA management team, lead by its founder Nicholas Porter, pioneered the purpose built student accommodation industry for nearly 25 years, creating industry standards such as end-user research, university guarantees and partnerships, standard operating processes, space saving room layouts, online bookings, student integration and customer service levels.

Nicholas Porter founded London and Australia’s Urbanest student accommodation brand and previously The UNITE Group plc which he grew to become a FTSE 250 company. The UK asset class attracts global investment and is now estimated to be worth over $30 billion. Counter to recessionary pressures, the global student accommodation market is in growth and there are also many other rapidly expanding markets, each underpinned by government policies to increase participation in higher education.

Having created 60,000 study bedrooms across 44 markets in 8 countries worth over US$7.5bn, GSA is inspired by the business model of the global hotel industry to expand and improve the scale, reach and service levels associated with student accommodation.

GSA has expanded from Europe and the Middle East into Asia and has operations in Sydney, Tokyo, London, Dubai, Hong Kong and Beijing.