Dundee Partners With CHC Student Housing To Enhance Growth

CHC Student Housing Corp is collaborating with the Dundee financial group to form a bigger public company that would control up to 4,700 residential beds in 13 markets, ranging from Fredericton to Windsor, Ontario.

CHC is expected to be retitled Canadian Student Living Group, headed by CHC chief executive Mark Hansen and his management team.

Both CHC and Dundee perceive student housing as an attractive and advantageous class that is infantile in Canada.

They claim that about three percent of post-secondary students in Canada reside in purpose-built housing, as compared to 12 percent in the United States and 23 percent in the United Kingdom.

CHC will join Dundee Acquisition Ltd., a publicly traded affiliate of Dundee Corp., in order to provide financial resources and business connections.

Almost simultaneously, Dundee Acquisition has attained agreements with other parties to get additional housing properties and produce a portfolio with a total value of $420 million, including eight properties presently owned or run by CHC.

Chairman David Goodman, also the president and CEO of Dundee Corp., stated that “Dundee Acquisition was created to leverage our team’s ability to identify and source a unique investment opportunity and to negotiate a complex transaction to create an investment opportunity that is expected to generate superior long-term returns for our shareholders.”

The proposal comprises of a multi-step approach, starting with Dundee substituting its shares for shares of CHC, which currently owns four student housing properties.

Following the renaming of CHC to Canadian Student Living is formed, it will gain up to 12 additional student housing properties, including seven that have signed binding purchase agreements. Five others are categorized under non-binding letters of intent or agreements in principle.

Both companies expect the dealings to be concluded in November.

Hansen, CHC’s chief executive, in a joint statement issued early Thursday, said, “We are extremely excited about this transaction and believe it creates a strong platform going forward for the benefit of all current CHC stakeholders.”

“The DAQ team has done a great deal to help create CSL, and position it to be a market leader in Canadian student housing with a world class portfolio of high-quality operating assets.”