Blackstone buys UK student housing group for $6 billion – The National

Blackstone buys UK student housing group for $6 billion – The National

Blackstone buys UK student housing group for $6 billion. The transaction will be the largest-ever private real estate deal in the UK.. Blackstone Group agreed to buy the iQ Student Accommodation business from Goldman Sachs Group and the Wellcome Trust in the largest-ever private real estate deal in the UK.. Funds managed by Blackstone will pay $6 billion (Dh22bn) for the business, which owns and manages properties with more than 28,000 beds in the UK, according to an emailed statement from Goldman Sachs.. Student housing has been a particularly popular bet, as students vastly outnumber the rooms available in purpose-built accommodation.. Blackstone plans to invest heavily in the business, which has a development pipeline of about 4,000 beds.. About half existing residents come from outside the European Union.. The UK government said last year it aims to increase the number of international students studying in the UK by more than 30 per cent.. The deal could pave the way for an initial public offering of the business at some stage in the next decade, when the fund nears the end of its life, the person said.. The business merged with Goldman Sachs's student housing company in 2016..