Moving into new digs

After the Covid-related disruption and then the outbreak of war in Ukraine, there were a few mutterings on the market that investors in student hall projects – since they can sometimes be of a rather a nervous disposition – would scatter like pigeons that have just been pounced on by a cat. And then, just to prove them wrong, Belgium-based Xior Student Housing announced that it had just acquired Basecamp and its entire portfolio of student lodgings in Poland, Germany, Sweden and Denmark for a cool EUR 1 bln. However, it turns out that this deal was not completely out of the blue, since it had been cooking for quite some time. The CEOs of the two companies first met about two years ago, although – according to Sandra Aznar, the head of IR and business development at Xior – serious negotiations only began around six months prior to the signing of the deal. Indeed, the company had already clearly stated that it was set to enter Poland with the announcement of a pr