SACO's portfolio includes 39 properties across the UK (nine leasehold assets under the Locke brand and 30 leasehold properties operated under the SACO brand).
The deal also includes more than 900 freehold rooms in SACO's development pipeline, which includes locations in Dublin and Amsterdam, as well as SACO's online platform.
The acquisition will be Brookfield's first in the serviced apartment sector and the largest serviced apartment investment deal in the UK to date. Mapletree and Invesco are also reported to have been interested in acquiring SACO, but Brookfield has emerged as a clear favourite.
The sale forms part of Oaktree's wider strategy to cash in on some of its UK investments that it made between 2012 and 2013 in order to return cash to maturing funds. Oaktree first entered the serviced apartment sector when it backed Central London Serviced Apartments to buy sites in the capital, a business which it merged with SACO when it bought the platform in 2015.
Eastdil Secured is advising Oaktree; JLL and KPMG are acting for Brookfield.
Brookfield in prime position to buy SACO
US asset manager Brookfield is in exclusive talks to buy SACO from Oaktree Capital Management for £430 million.
“Recharge for us was that gathering of highly skilled professional individuals...and a true opportunity to spend 24-48 hours with these guys, build relationships, build a true understanding of how the different sectors within this hospitality world operate. From my perspective...in terms of the coliving, student accommodation and apartment-orientated industries, it was a really good opportunity to learn how those verticals operate, and how perhaps what we do as an organisation can be referenced within that particular vertical.”
Matthew Prosser, Senior Sales Director - Agilysys
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