* CPPIB forms student housing joint venture with GIC, Scion
* CPPIB, GIC to each own 47.5 percent in U.S. business
TORONTO, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Canada Pension Plan Investment
Board (CPPIB) said on Monday it had agreed to buy a student
housing portfolio in the United States for around $1.4 billion,
in partnership with Singapore wealth fund GIC and The Scion
Group.
The three parties said they had formed a student housing
joint venture, Scion Student Communities, which will acquire
University House Communities Group (UHC). The price includes the
cost of completing current development projects.
CPPIB, which manages Canada's national pension fund and is a
major global dealmaker, last year acquired Liberty Living, one
of Britain's biggest providers of student accommodation, for 1.1
billion pounds ($1.6 billion).
Canadian pension funds are looking to buy real estate assets
around the world to diversify their investments and offset the
effects of volatility in global equity markets and diminishing
returns from fixed income investments.
CPPIB and GIC, which manages Singapore's foreign
investments, will each own a 47.5 percent interest in UHC.
Scion, a private operator of student housing, will own the
remaining 5 percent. The UHC portfolio is concentrated among
top-ranked U.S. universities with large student populations and
comprises nearly 13,000 beds, CPPIB said.
CPPIB said the joint venture would pursue additional
opportunities to purchase high quality U.S. student housing
assets.
"The UHC portfolio represents a valuable opportunity to
enter the U.S. student housing sector with top-tier,
well-located assets," Peter Ballon, CPPIB's head of real estate
investments in the Americas, said in a statement.
"This transaction enables us to gain immediate scale in the
attractive U.S. student market," he added.
($1 = 0.6803 pounds)