London
Oxford Properties Group (“Oxford”), a leading global investor, developer and manager of commercial real estate, and Delancey Real Estate Asset Management Limited (“Delancey”), announce that DOOR S.L.P. (“DOOR”), has raised further commitments of £260 million and £150 million from Allianz Real Estate (“Allianz”) acting on behalf of several Allianz group companies, and Local Pensions Partnership (“LPP”) respectively. The latest closing brings DOOR’s current equity commitments to £1.2 billion, following the initial seed capital from Oxford and DV4, and the £250 million commitment from €95 billion Swedish pension fund Alecta that was announced in March this year. The capital will be used to invest in Get Living’s existing development pipeline and for further large-scale acquisition opportunities as the platform pursues its ambition to become the pre-eminent UK-wide build-to-rent provider.
DOOR is a dedicated residential investment vehicle, co-sponsored by Oxford and DV4 Limited (“DV4”), a Delancey advised client fund, which, alongside APG Asset Management and Qatari Diar as separate shareholders, owns Get Living, the UK’s most experienced and progressive build-to-rent operator of large-scale residential neighbourhoods.
The private rental sector has shown itself to be one of the most resilient asset classes in relation to the impact of Covid-19. The equity will be put towards the continued growth of Get Living’s portfolio, which is targeting up to 12,000-14,000 homes, a scale which will help drive further operational efficiencies, investor outperformance, and an exceptional customer proposition.
Joanne McNamara, Head of Europe at Oxford Properties said: “To have secured these significant commitments from high-quality institutional investors in the current market is a strong endorsement of the quality of the Get Living platform, of our strategy and our ambitions to scale the business. The residential rental sector has demonstrated its resilience during the pandemic and the long-term fundamentals underpinning the asset class remain unchanged.
“Having also completed our latest transaction in Lewisham - Get Living’s third London neighbourhood project - we now have strong momentum behind us to continue our expansion as part of Oxford’s global diversification strategy to invest into demographically-supported asset classes such as multifamily.”
Kari Pitkin, Head of Business Development for Europe, Allianz Real Estate, commented
“We have a strong belief in the multi-family sector in gateway cities across the globe and the UK’s living segment is no exception. We are delighted to be increasing our exposure to the asset class through a market-leading, prime investment vehicle. DOOR is very complementary to our Chapter portfolio of student housing across London, and, since we opened our local office in 2019, are very happy to have found another investment with a high-quality management team and like-minded partners.”
Chris Rule, Chief Executive Officer, Local Pensions Partnership, added, “Supporting large scale residential property projects is an important part of our investment strategy, and the Get Living platform presented the key characteristics that we look to add to our portfolio. This investment will support the delivery and ongoing stewardship of high-quality, affordable and professionally-managed homes. We are delighted to be contributing to the regeneration of local communities whilst also creating sustainable and resilient assets that will provide value for our pension scheme members over the long term.”
DOOR, which was seeded with £600 million of capital from Oxford and DV4, acquired a 39% stake in Get Living in August 2018. DOOR subsequently selectively approached large-scale like-minded strategic capital to participate alongside their initial investment.
Get Living recently announced a £252 million forward funding deal to accelerate the delivery of the second and final phase of Lewisham Gateway, one of the largest regeneration schemes in the South East. It will take the total number of homes within Get Living’s management and pipeline to more than 8,000 homes across four cities.
Get Living currently comprises approximately 2,900 operational homes, mainly across two London schemes at East Village, the former London 2012 Athletes’ Village at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, and Elephant Central in Elephant and Castle, with a smaller neighbourhood, New Maker Yards, at Middlewood Locks, Manchester. The portfolio also features approximately 1,800 homes currently under construction and a secured development pipeline of 3,500 homes, located at East Village, Elephant & Castle, Lewisham and Middlewood Locks, as well as two sites in the key regional cities of Glasgow and Leeds. Delancey and Qatari Diar act as Development Managers on the various schemes.
Get Living’s strategy is underpinned by an ongoing lack of high-quality rental accommodation in the UK, combined with unaffordability of house prices for first time buyers. This has created substantial demand in the nascent professional build-to-rent sector which has been supported by significant institutional investment over the past few years.
Get Living continues to target large scale development sites across the UK that comprise 400 units or more once complete to create vibrant residential-led neighbourhoods, as well as stabilised assets, forward funding and corporate acquisitions.
Lazard and Eastdil Secured provided financial advice to DOOR as part of the transaction.
