The 2 Million Reasons Greystar Is Buying BTR Specialist Fizzy Living
Buying build-to-rent management platforms is so hot right now that Greystar is getting in on the act.
The U.S. rented residential and student accommodation giant is close to agreeing a deal to buy Fizzy Living from housing association Metropolitan Thames Valley, Bloomberg reported.
It is buying the management business as well as a minority stake in Fizzy’s portfolio of about 1,000 rented homes in and around London. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is the majority owner of the assets and also owns a stake in the management business.
The most recent set of accounts filed at Companies House give an insight into the financials that make Fizzy an attractive target for Greystar, which is one of the world’s largest rented residential investors and developers.
The company made a £1.8M profit in the year to March 2020 by managing a portfolio, which at that time comprised 682 completed apartments and a further 292 under construction. That portfolio was valued at £330M, the account showed, and the revenue for the business was £9.6M.
Bloomberg did not report a price for the deal, but PineBridge Benson Elliot’s deal in June to buy Sigma Capital provides some context. Benson Elliot is paying £188M for a business that made a £3.2M profit in the nine months through last September — likely, about £4.5M for the full year. A similar ratio might put a price for the Fizzy Living management platform at around £70 to £100M.
For its part, Greystar’s European operation made a £10.6M profit in 2019, according to Company’s House accounts.
The deal to buy Fizzy Living might see Greystar get involved in a major retail repurposing scheme to the west of London. ADIA is planning to convert two shopping centres it owns there into a new scheme that will include 2,500 homes, with the expectation that some of those will be rental units built and managed by Fizzy.
