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A new joint venture has been formed that will buy and repurpose old offices and hotels for conversion into a £400M portfolio of serviced apartments, Bisnow can reveal.
Developer and investment manager Osborne+Co has teamed up with hospitality operator Bob W for the new venture. The duo is looking for an investment partner to raise £120M for a value-add fund to buy and repurpose 20 to 25 buildings into 1,500 to 2,000 modern apartments that would have a gross development value of about £400M.
The JV is targeting cities in the UK, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Poland, with the first assets expected to be operational in the next 18 months. The fundraising and JV are being managed by Osborne+Co Investment Management, Osborne’s investment arm.
The buildings will be converted into serviced apartments, which will be operated by Bob W. The company has an existing portfolio of 3,500 serviced apartments in 29 cities across Europe. It has raised €70M (£59M) of funding from a mix of venture capital firms, individual investors and property companies, including Nrep.
The conversion to serviced apartments will increase the value of the buildings, and by repurposing old stock rather than developing new buildings, embodied carbon will be saved, the JV said.
As an international climate-neutral hospitality provider, Bob W sources secondhand furniture, uses 100% renewable energy and double offsets its emissions, the company said in a statement. The company uses apps to provide a digital front desk for travellers.
“The joint venture is seeking an investment partner to create a pan-European platform to deliver attractive returns in a highly defensive asset class,” OCIM co-founder Rishi Khurana said in a statement. “We have seen recent exits in both single assets and operational platforms that demonstrates the liquidity of the serviced apartment asset class.”
“Together, we aim to transform underutilised spaces into vibrant, high-quality serviced apartments that meet the evolving needs of modern travellers,” Bob W co-founder Niko Karstikko said.
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