PIC completes £87 million investment in London student accommodation

London, 4 January 2017 – Pension Insurance Corporation (“PIC”), a specialist insurer of defined benefit pension funds, has provided £87 million of funding as the sole investor in a 46-year, index-linked secured loan, with University Partnerships Programme (“UPP”) as the ultimate sponsor. The funds will be used to finance the construction of a 32 storey tower to house 511 student beds for the University of London. The debt has been guaranteed by Assured Guaranty.

As part of a long-term partnership, PIC has financed circa £300 million of UPP student accommodation projects. In July 2014, PIC provided £114 million as the sole investor in debt issued by UPP to fund the redevelopment of a different student accommodation project for the University of London.

UPP designs and develops high quality, affordable, student accommodation, academic infrastructure and support services. UPP employs over 700 people managing more than 30,000 rooms in operation or development, helping 14 UK universities to upgrade their estates, make best use of their physical assets, improve services and enhance the student experience.

Sean O’Shea, CEO UPP Group Limited, 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."

Allen Twyning, Head of Debt Origination at Pension Insurance Corporation, said: "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."

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Notes to Editors:

For further information please contact:

Pension Insurance Corporation

Jeremy Apfel
+44 (0)20 7105 2140
apfel@pensioncorporation.com

Teneo Blue Rubicon

Anthony Silverman
+44 (0)20 7240 2486
anthony.silverman@teneobluerubicon.com

About Pension Insurance Corporation

Pension Insurance Corporation plc ("PIC") provides tailored pension insurance buyouts and buy-ins to the trustees and sponsors of UK defined benefit pension funds. PIC brings safety and security to scheme members' benefits through innovative, bespoke insurance solutions, which include deferred premiums and the use of company assets as part payment. At 30 June 2016 PIC had £18.4bn in assets and had insured more than 130,000 pension fund members. Clients include FTSE 100 companies, multinationals and the public sector. PIC is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and PRA (FRN 454345). For further information please visit www.pensioncorporation.com

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