Bahrain’s GFH buys $300m US student housing assets

GFH Partners, the DIFC-based asset management arm of Bahrain-based GFH Financial Group, has acquired student housing in the United States valued at $300 million.

The assets have been added to GFH Partners’ US student housing platform, which now has more than 5,500 beds and assets under management worth $900 million.

The assets are 99 percent occupied and are within pedestrian distance of major public universities, with enrollments exceeding 30,000 students per academic year.

These include two assets serving the University of North Texas (859 beds), an asset targeting student accommodation for the University of Kentucky (649 beds), and a development project near the University of Tennessee, which is set to deliver 605 beds upon completion in 2026.

Nael Mustafa, CEO of GFH Partners, said the company sees merit in deploying capital in this sector due to the demand-supply imbalances in public universities with strong research and sporting programmes.

GFH Partners executed these transactions in partnership with SQ Asset Management, an Atlanta-based student housing operator with over 15,000 beds under management and New York-based Vesper Holdings, with over 30,000 beds under management.

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Gulf entities have invested billions of dollars in student housing in the United States over the past few years, and are now considering making the same play locally, AGBI reported in September.

In a note posted in May on its website, GFH Partners argued that US student housing has not yet “fully” matured at the level of supply.  

The number of US public and private university students in the academic year that is just starting is around 15 million. This does not include international students, of which there were more than one million last year, according to GFH Partners.