Centurion Corp acquires London site for £41 million to develop student housing

Acquisition marks Centurion’s entry into London, the sixth city within its UK portfolio

Mainboard-listed Centurion Corp has acquired a land site in central London for £41 million (S$71 million) to develop a purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA).

The acquisition was a joint venture with United States-based real estate firm Landmark Properties, Centurion said in a press release on Tuesday (Oct 14). Centurion holds 99 per cent equity interest in the joint venture.

The London property consists of Euston One at 35-37 William Road and Euston Two at 17-33 William Road.

Euston One will be redeveloped into the PBSA which will offer approximately 225 beds. The building will have a basement, ground floor and 14 upper levels, and will contain a mixture of studio units and en suite cluster accommodations.

Euston Two will be refurbished to provide approximately 1,090 square metres of office space.

“The London property is ideally positioned for a PBSA, offering strong appeal to students due to its central London Zone 1 location and excellent transport connectivity,” Centurion said.

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The proposed PBSA will be within a 10 minute walking distance from notable universities such as Birkbeck College and the School of Oriental and African Studies, as well as University College London Hospital.

The acquisition marks Centurion’s entry into London, the sixth city in its UK portfolio, and follows its successful listing of Centurion Accommodation Real Estate Investment Trust in September.

The group noted the “persistent demand-supply imbalance” in the UK PBSA market. It elaborated that there is “limited new supply coming through in the near term despite resilient domestic and international student demand”.

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“London would require over 100,000 additional student beds to meet existing demand, with a student-to-bed ratio of 2.9 after accounting for short-term pipeline,” it noted.

“Against this backdrop, the group expects sustained demand for quality, professionally managed PBSA,” it added.

The London property is also earmarked to be Centurion’s first Epiisod-branded PBSA in the UK, and its second worldwide.

Epiisod is the premium brand for Centurion’s PBSA properties, with the first PBSA being constructed in Sydney slated to commence operations in Q1 2026.

Shares of Centurion closed 2.7 per cent or S$0.04 lower at S$1.42 on Tuesday, before the news.