Ropes & Gray Advises GCM Grosvenor on £200 Million UK Student Housing Partnership with Tokoro Capital and Homie

Ropes & Gray has advised GCM Grosvenor on its long-term strategic partnership with real estate investment manager Tokoro Capital and its vertically integrated student management business, Homie, supporting up to £200 million in UK student housing investment.

The vehicle will focus on acquiring and repositioning traditional houses of multiple occupancy (“HMOs”) and first-generation purpose-built student accommodation (“PBSA”), targeting domestic students at more affordable rental levels than traditional, highly amenitised PBSA. The partnership has already secured an initial seed portfolio which, once closed, will position Homie as one of the largest institutional managers of student HMOs in the UK.

This transaction follows Ropes & Gray advising GCM Grosvenor on its strategic partnership with pan-European residential real estate investment firm Matter Real Estate in October last year. 

The Ropes & Gray team was led by London based asset management partner Tom Alabaster with support from associates Andrew Davis, Katherina Kirimli, Audrey Ziari and trainee Declan Larkin. Additional support was provided by real estate partners Walter McCabe and Sally Davis, and associate Dylan Waters; and tax partner Andrew Howard and counsel Benjamin Wonnacott.