Mapletree Real Estate Advisors Pte Ltd (“MREAL”) is Mapletree’s private capital management arm headquartered in Singapore and is fully owned by Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd.
The acquisition brings Mapletree’s overall student housing portfolio to more than 23,000 beds in the UK, US and Canada.
SINGAPORE – Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd (“Mapletree” or “the Group”) is pleased to announce it has purchased four Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (“PBSA”) assets in the United Kingdom (“UK”) for a total consideration exceeding GBP165 million (~S$300 million)1.
Totalling 917 beds, the acquired portfolio comprises PBSA assets in Exeter, Bristol, Leeds and Nottingham and will complement Mapletree’s growing student housing footprint in the UK. They are strategically located within walking distance to Russell Group Universities as well as in close proximity to amenities such as town centres and train stations.
Said Mr Chua Tiow Chye, Mapletree’s Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer: “This acquisition of four high-quality assets will enhance the scale and reach of our PBSA presence in the UK. This also underscores our commitment to grow the student accommodation sector as a stable and resilient asset class, with growth anchored by strong underlying and positive demographic and student enrolment trends. In the aftermath of challenges faced by the sector last year during the Covid-19 pandemic, the PBSA markets in the UK and the United States (“US”) are experiencing robust recovery with schools re-opening for face-to-face lessons in the next academic year. The high vaccination rates and strong student enrolment figures in these two markets have also enabled strong pre-leasing rates of student beds for the next academic year to be achieved. Mapletree will continue to expand its global footprint in this asset class for its attractive long term growth prospects supported by strong fundamentals of domestic and international students’ demand.”
The assets were purchased from Vita Group, which will be engaged as the operator for the four assets under the Vita Student brand.
Mr Mark Stott, Chief Executive Officer of Vita Group said: “We are excited to partner strategically with Mapletree, agreeing the sale of four assets. In securing this deal, it provides the business with the capital and the confidence to continue to develop the Vita Group platform to thrive, with an ever-increasing future pipeline of projects.”
Including the latest acquisition, Mapletree’s student accommodation portfolio comprises 55 assets with over 23,000 beds located across 37 cities in the UK, the US and Canada. The total assets under management amount to approximately S$4 billion. About 60% of these beds are held by Mapletree’s private fund, Mapletree Global Student Accommodation Private Trust.
City
Property Name
Beds
Year Built
Distance to Universities
Exeter
Portland House
156
2014
University of Exeter: 1 km Exeter College: 0.8 km
Bristol
Zed Alley
132
2014
University of Bristol: 0.3 km City College of Bristol: 0.8 km
Leeds
Portland Crescent
308
2020
University of Leeds: 0.5 km Leeds Beckett University: 0.1 km
Nottingham
Station Street
321
2020
University of Nottingham: 3 km Nottingham Trent University: 1.2 km
Portland Crescent is a brand new building located directly next to Leeds Beckett University’s Business School and just a short walk from the University of Leeds.
Newly opened in 2020, Station Street is equipped with amenities including a cinema room, coffee lounge and bike storage area.
1 Based on exchange rate GBP1:S$1.86 as at 30 August 2021
HO CHI MINH CITY – More than 300 wildlife photography enthusiasts and birdwatchers gathered at SC VivoCity in Ho Chi Minh City at the opening and prize presentation ceremony of the ‘Wild Birds and Mammals of Vietnam’ Photography Exhibition. Now in its second year running, this year’s exhibition held from 12 to 17 October focuses on the theme of endangered birds and mammal species in Vietnam, and is jointly organised by WildTour, the Vietnam Wildlife Photography Club and BirdLife International, supported by the Ho Chi Minh City Photography Association (HOPA), and sponsored by Mapletree Investments, Canon Vietnam and Lexar. ‘Wild Birds and Mammals of Vietnam’ is a culmination of a month-long, nationwide photography competition with a focus on Vietnam’s endangered species from July 2024 to early September 2024.
This year’s exhibition profiles wild birds and mammals in Vietnam. Vietnam supports some of the highest concentration of endangered species in Southeast Asia. Of note is Vietnam’s diversity of primates, among the most imperilled primate faunas in the world, and home to the charismatic Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey and the Delacour’s Langur. Similarly, Vietnam’s bird fauna is rich but threatened by habitat loss and trapping for the pet trade. ‘More than 400 images were received by our team, many of them exceptionally high-quality images of some of Asia’s rarest bird and mammal species’, observed Mr Nguyen Truong Sinh, lead organiser of the competition and chairperson of the Vietnam Wildlife Photography Club. He also chaired the judging panel with seven other experts. Dr Yong Ding Li who represents BirdLife International on the panel agreed and noted that the images received were more diverse than the inaugural competition in 2023 and reflects a rapidly growing interest in nature photography in Vietnam.
The Exhibition coincided with the World Migratory Bird Day weekend on 12 October 2024, held twice a year to celebrate the spectacular movement of birds across the globe every Spring and Autumn. Over this time, millions of migratory birds can be expected to be on their journeys across the Asian continent, moving from wetlands to wetlands along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, including here in Vietnam. Several migratory species were featured among the exhibited images, including among them the Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Great Knot and Wallcreeper, the last an extremely rare visitor to northern Vietnam.
Mr Edmund Cheng, Chairman, Mapletree, added: “We are pleased to witness our support for environmental awareness in Vietnam gain momentum, starting from our first migratory bird event in 2023 at the wetlands of Can Gio. This commitment is influenced by Mapletree’s environment and education pillars, two of the four pillars under our Corporate Social Responsibility framework to enrich communities in markets where we operate.”
“It was great to see the high quality of submissions received from not just photographers in south Vietnam, but also from further away in Ha Noi and Da Nang. I was particularly impressed with the fantastic selection of Vietnam’s endemic and wild birds documented in these photographs. The selection of mammals was equally impressive, with some of the best shots of the rare Cat Ba Langur. Eventually our committee of judges agreed that the Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey image by Mr Chung Van Thanh was the best of the lot”, observed Mr Nguyen Hoai Bao, director of WildTour and chairperson of the judging panel with five other experts.
This year’s exhibition is the fourth World Migratory Bird Day event supported by Mapletree since 2023, starting from the ‘Celebrating Migratory Birds in Vietnam’ activity organised in Can Gio wetlands by WildTour and BirdLife. In 2024, Mapletree supported the first ever Vietnam Bird Race, held at Tràm Chim National Park. The organisers and supporters of this event plan to build on the success of this year’s event and introduce new elements to attract more bird and nature enthusiasts from across Vietnam. The Vietnam Bird Race will take place annually and the next iteration is slated to be held in May 2025.
Figure 1. Chung Van Thanh’s portrait of a Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey, among Southeast Asia’s rarest mammals, won the first prize.
Figure 1. Chung Van Thanh’s portrait of a Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey, among Southeast Asia’s rarest mammals, won the first prize.
Figure 1. Chung Van Thanh’s portrait of a Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey, among Southeast Asia’s rarest mammals, won the first prize.
Figure 1. Chung Van Thanh’s portrait of a Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey, among Southeast Asia’s rarest mammals, won the first prize.
Figure 1. Chung Van Thanh’s portrait of a Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey, among Southeast Asia’s rarest mammals, won the first prize.
Headquartered in Singapore, Mapletree is a global real estate development, investment, capital and property management company committed to sustainability. Its strategic focus is to invest in markets and real estate sectors with good growth potential. By combining its key strengths, the Group has established a track record of award-winning projects, and delivers consistently attractive returns across real estate asset classes.
The Group manages three Singapore-listed real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) and nine private equity real estate funds, which hold a diverse portfolio of assets in Asia Pacific, Europe, the United Kingdom (“UK”) and the United States (“US”). As at 31 March 2024, Mapletree owns and manages S$77.5 billion of office, retail, logistics, industrial, data centre, residential and student accommodation properties.
The Group’s assets are located across 13 markets globally, namely Singapore, Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Hong Kong SAR, India, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, the UK, the US and Vietnam. To support its global operations, Mapletree has established an extensive network of offices in these countries.
BirdLife International is a partnership of over 122 conservation organisations worldwide covering all continents, landscapes, and seascapes. As a leader in bird conservation, our unique local to global approach enables us to deliver high impact and long-term conservation for the benefit of nature and people. Our mission is to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, while working with people toward sustainability in the use of natural resources. Find out more at www.BirdLife.org
