DIF Capital Partners: Technical Due Diligence

Vercity was commissioned to provide technical advice to DIF for the potential acquisition of a purpose-built student accommodation portfolio.

Project Description

• Purpose Built Student Accommodation across 8 UK locations. 
• 4,539 student beds, with retail and communal facilities
• Located in Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham, London, and Newport
• Client – DIF Capital Partners
• Site Size – 135,476m2

Acquisition support

Vercity was asked to identify, evaluate, and quantify the technical-related risks of the purpose-built student accommodation. The analysis supported the DIF acquisition of the assets, ensuring the potential impact of the technical risks has been appropriately articulated to DIF as interpreted by Vercity from the information presented by the vendor.

Our experience in asset management ensures technical due diligence is thorough and reviews all the key operational factors that affect the maintenance and performance of each asset.

Vercity’s Role

Vercity provides Asset management, FM and technical advice for the project, with a particular focus on compliance and condition and, ensuring the facilities management costs and lifecycle costs are sufficient to maintain these assets. 

Our collaborative approach meant linking with the legal, financial and insurance advisors to ensure clarity across all parties on project issues and create a positive negotiation for DIF, enhancing its investment and income opportunities are maximised. Our asset management and FM expertise supported the DIF project team from competitive tender through to financial close.

Vercity has been involved with the following on the project:

• Vercity services appointment including benchmarking of the Facility Management services to ensure the best value for money for the client. 
• Asset management undertake survey works to provide a red flag review of the condition of the assets.
• Compliance checks to ensure all contractual obligations and legislative obligations are happening to a satisfactory level to ensure the smooth running of the accommodation.
• Asset management including benchmarking of the lifecycle funds to ensure sufficiency and maintain optimal condition of the asset.

Project Impact

Vercity helped ensure the smooth acquisition of these assets with appropriate financial plans to support upgrading the estate to maximise (letting) revenue and the monitoring of operation works relating to project management to ensure that these risks were managed throughout the acquisition phase.