Advising McLaren Property on £175 million deal

Taylor Wessing has advised McLaren Property on a £175 million forward funding with Brookfield's Student Roost.

The funding will be used by McLaren to develop three new student accommodation schemes delivering a total of 1,387 beds to two prime, regional cities; Warwick and Brighton.

The schemes will be delivered for the 2020/21 and 2021/22 academic years, with two schemes in Warwick and one in Brighton.

Commercial Real Estate partner Paul Leamy commented: "McLaren Property is a long-standing client and we are delighted to have worked so closely with them throughout the development life cycle of these schemes. The work required a well-balanced blend of skills and expertise from across the firm as the projects materialised through the site acquisition and planning processes, culminating in this forward funding transaction to facilitate construction. I look forward to continuing to work with McLaren Property to deliver its future pipeline of schemes in prime university locations across the UK."

John Gatley, CEO, McLaren Property added: "Our partnership with Brookfield and Student Roost is a recognition of the continued strength of the PBSA sector. We have a strong and established track-record in delivering first-class student accommodation and we are continuing to identify and bring forward further opportunities. It is always a pleasure working with Paul, Eamonn and the Taylor Wessing team and their involvement was a key part of the success of this deal."

The team was led by commercial real estate partner Paul Leamy and consultant Eamonn Cannon with support from partner and head of construction Matthew Jones (Construction), senior associates Chris Komodromou (Real Estate) and Emma Tait (Planning), associates Jo Bassett (Planning), Olivia Doonan (Construction) and Daniel Wigman (Real Estate) and trainee Joe Pengelly (Real Estate).

Senior associate Gabriel Estevez (Banking and Finance) and associate Scott Perry (Banking and Finance) also worked on the finance aspects of this deal.

Read our 2019 PBSA Trends Report, which highlights a number of issues that are currently shaping the strategies of the various stakeholders in the UK purpose built student accommodation sector.