Amro plans £500m jv to make PRS debut

Student accommodation specialist Amro Real Estate Partners is diversifying into the private rented sector and has launched a search for a £500m capital partner. The London-based investment and asset manager has acquired two sites, in Ealing and Kingston upon Thames, to develop under a new build-to-rent platform called AmroLiving. The schemes comprise 500 homes in total. To support its growth plans, the company has instructed JLL to seek an institutional joint venture partner for a £500m investment programme, which will aim to deliver 1,500 units across Greater London in the next five years. The programme will focus on developing schemes of 250 to 400 units in locations that Amro has identified as “significantly under-served in terms of high-quality rental accommodation”. The 251-unit scheme in Ealing Central, which has a gross development value of £95m, will provide a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. It is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2020. It will have indoor and outdoor amenity spaces, including social and co-working space, a fitness suite and landscaped gardens as well as a pet-friendly policy. The Kingston upon Thames scheme, which has a gross development value of £110m, will deliver a further 250 units in a gateway town centre location close to Kingston Station. This site will feature flexible co-working space as well as retail when it completes in Q1 2021. It will focus in particular on meeting the needs of downsizers and of mid-career, aspirational professionals looking for accommodation within easy reach of Kingston’s town centre amenities. High demand Ami Kotecha, co-founder of Amro, has been appointed managing director of the AmroLiving platform. She said: “With a growing population, a major housing shortfall in London and with many locked out of home ownership, there is and will continue to be high demand for good-quality rental accommodation. “While renting was once considered a ‘young person’s game’, the market now has broader appeal, with customers of all ages and at different stages of their lives aspiring to make a lifestyle choice in terms of where they live. “Our build-to-rent schemes will be designed to meet the needs of the local demographic and will deliver a robust portfolio that will form a superb investment opportunity for our jv partners.” Amro has a combined gross development value of £360m across its schemes (both completed and in the pipeline) including its student assets and forthcoming build-to-rent projects. It is backed by a private family office. Overseas expansion In May, Amro outlined plans to ramp up its presence in Spain and Portugal through a €300m (£267m) capital investment programme and an office launch in Madrid, having spotted opportunities to benefit from growing demand for purpose-built student housing in the Iberian markets. The company is among a wave of players looking to diversify into the private rented sector and take advantage of the steady income streams that it generates, including British Land, which is in the middle of buying operator Fizzy Living, while the likes of Delancey, Grand City, Greystar and LRC Group are all in the mix to buy Lone Star’s £2.3bn Quintain. And earlier this month Liverpool-based developer Elliot Group and Valorem Investment Partners appointed capital markets adviser HFF to undertake a similar process to Amro’s to find equity partners for an expansion into the build-to-rent sector. Like Amro, the partnership is looking to fund a pipeline to grow operations to more than £1bn. It noted that it is an “opportune time” to approach institutional investors to support a potential 1,250-home BTR pipeline. To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@egi.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @estatesgazette