Co-living firm pauses £300m float citing Ukraine crisis

A real estate investment trust set up to invest in co-living developments has paused its planned flotation due to the crisis in Ukraine.

Fund manager Gravis Capital Management set up GCP Co-Living to initially buy three large co-living developments previously held by The Collective, which went into administration last year. Two of the developments are operational. Altogether the assets consist of 1,583 homes, which GCP says make up 90% of all co-living units in London.

GCP earlier this month published a prospectus outlining plans to raise £300m from the stock market, with an option to increase this to £450m if demand is high.

It said it still intends to raise the money at a later date and the prospectus is still “valid”.

It said: “In light of the events in Ukraine over the last 24 hours, the decision has been taken to pause the active marketing of the Company’s initial public offering and proposed admission of ordinary shares to the Specialist Fund Segment of the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.

“As a result, the company will not currently be accepting subscriptions under the offer for subscription and any money received will be returned to the relevant subscribers in the manner set out in the prospectus.”

The decision comes amid market turmoil due to the crisis in Ukraine. The FTSE 100 plummeted from 7,545 points last Wednesday to 7,207on Friday, before rallying to 7,401 today.

Co-living housing is a form of accommodation targeting young people with large shared communal areas and facilities. It is seen as an area of huge potential growth. Before the Collective went into administration it was planning to grow its 9,000-unit portfolio to 100,000 homes.

See also>> The co-living mini boom and why not everyone is happy about it

Last week giant US fund Oaktree announced plans to create a £1bn portfolio of co-living housing in London, while Yorkshire-based build-to-rent developer Moda Living has set up a co-living arm to build 1,000 homes a year.