Fiera provides £14.9m development loan for PBSA project in Alicante

Amro Partners and Falco Capital have financed their joint student housing project in Alicante with a €17.5m (£14.9m) three-year development loan from Fiera Real Estate.

The global asset management firm is making its debut into the Iberian market via the Article 8-compliant Fiera Real Estate European Debt Fund.

Located a three-minute walk from Universidad de Alicante’s main campus, the €30m GDV project will deliver c.285 student beds in San Vicente del Raspeig, providing two-bed apartments and studios.

The project has achieved full planning permission, with work having commenced on site in Q4 2023 and set to complete in Q3 2025.

Fiera’s European debt platform is part of its global real estate credit product offering, where a further USD2bn assets are under management in North America and Asia.

Raj Kotecha, chairman and CEO at Amro Partners, said: “Our strategy to create Europe’s most sustainable living real estate portfolio is paying dividends in terms of attracting the highest quality global lenders.

“We are delighted to be working with Fiera Real Estate as they make their European PBSA debut and looking forward to delivering this exemplar student housing asset in a prime location close to Alicante’s main university hub.”

David Renshaw, co-head at Fiera’s European Real Estate Debt business, commented: “We are delighted to have transacted on this high-quality development facility.

“Since joining Fiera, we have remained consistent in our investment approach; to back best-in-class management teams and lend against fundamentally good real estate in sectors that suffer from undersupply and have favourable long-term outlooks.

“Amro has a proven track record in delivering best-in-class student accommodation and we look forward to further building on our very good relationship.”