The Pension Insurance Corporation, (PIC) has provided £87m of funding as the sole investor in a 46-year index-linked secured loan sponsoring the University Partnerships Programme (UPP).

PIC has financially backed £300m of UPP student accommodation projects as part of a long term partnership and provided £114m as the sole investor in debt issued by UPP to fund the redevelopment of another student housing project for the University of London.

The funding will be used for the construction for a 32 storey tower to house 511 students for the University of London. The debt has been guaranteed by Assured Guaranty.

PIC head of debt origination Allen Twyning added: “As PIC insures increasing amounts of defined benefit pension liabilities, partnerships such as we have with UPP ensure that we are able to invest in strong, secure, long-term cash flows to match our pension payments. We look forward to working with Sean and the team again.”

UPP Group Limited CEO Sean O’Shea said: “It’s absolutely vital for UK universities to have long-term, cost-effective debt structures, enabling the development of affordable residential accommodation for students.

“We are delighted with our partnership with PIC, who are straightforward and easy to deal with on a commercial basis. We have a number of projects in the pipeline and hope to do a lot more with PIC in the future.”

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