Unite Group (LSE:UTG) announced it has exchanged contracts to sell the academy school at its newly completed Hawthorne House development in London for £40.7m, priced at a 4.9% yield and a 2% discount to its June 2026 book value.
The UK's largest owner, manager and developer of purpose-built student accommodation retains the 719-bed student accommodation element of the site, which opened fully let for the current academic year, with more than half the beds tied to a long-term nomination agreement with the University of the Arts London.
The academy school was already included in the £225m of assets Unite flagged as under offer in its third-quarter trading update, and proceeds will initially go toward reducing leverage.
The sale forms part of Unite's accelerated disposal programme, under which it has completed £200m of disposals this year at a weighted average yield of 3.0%, including the King's Place development site, as it targets £300-400m of proceeds in 2026 and works to narrow pro forma net debt to EBITDA toward its 6-7x target range from 7.3x at the last update.
"The sale of the academy school at Hawthorne House is evidence of our capital discipline and proactive capital recycling programme," said chief executive Joe Lister, adding that the group is "moving at pace" to increase its alignment to the UK's strongest universities and remains on track to deliver £300-400m of disposals this year.
The sale is expected to complete shortly.
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