Former Elliot Group scheme bought for £110m 

Tristan Capital Partners and its joint venture partner Bricks Group have acquired the 999-bedroom Aura student development in Liverpool. 

The joint venture bought the scheme for £110m from a group of the project’s original investors, which had rescued the development out of administration in October 2020. 

Vermont completed the development, to be operated under Bricks’ True Student brand, earlier this year. 

“The underlying quality of the asset coupled with the growing demand from both domestic and international students in Liverpool made this a compelling addition to our UK PBSA strategy,” said Kristian Smyth, managing director at Tristan Capital Partners. 

This latest acquisition expands the joint venture’s PBSA platform to more than 2,100 beds in Birmingham, Greater Manchester, Glasgow and Liverpool. 

Tristan and Bricks set up the Core Plus CCP 5 LL Fund in January of this year and aim to create a £750m+ platform of “operating assets and de-risked developments” in the short to medium term, according to Smyth. 

Peter Prickett, founder and chief executive of Bricks Group, added: “It’s testament to the strength of the partnership that we’ve quickly secured our largest PBSA asset in the internationally renowned city of Liverpool.

“And this is just the beginning for our JV and its mission to scale the true student brand at pace.”

The JV was advised by BCLP, Knight Frank, PWC, Workman, Longevity and Tiger Lime.