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The UK Competition & Markets Authority on Thursday greenlit the acquisition of Empiric Student Property PLC by Unite Group PLC. Both firms are England-based student accommodation providers and have been in talks since Bristol-headquartered Unite first approached London-based Empiric in May. Since the CMA on Thursday unconditionally cleared the transaction, Empiric expects its takeover by Unite to complete on January 28. Empiric in August agreed to a takeover offer from Unite, valuing Empiric at roughly £710 million. For each share held, Empiric stockholders will receive 0.085 of a new Unite share, plus 32 pence in cash, valuing each Empiric share at roughly 94.2p for £634 million, with an additional dividend payment raising the total value to £723 million. Empiric shares fell 2.1% to 74.40 pence each on Thursday morning in London, while Unite shares were 4.5% lower at 521.00p each. Unite meanwhile reiterated its guidance for adjusted earnings per share of between 47.5 pence and 48.25p in 2025, at least 1.9% higher than 46.6p in 2024. The company made the announcement as it is holding an investor event on Thursday. Unite expects adjusted EPS to fall by 7% to 10% in 2026 due to lower occupancy, property activity and rising finance costs. Further, it targets 93% to 96% occupancy and 2% to 3% rental growth for the 2026/27 academic year. In the 2024/25 academic year, occupancy had been 97.5% with rental growth of 8.2%. Joe Lister, Unite Students chief executive officer said: ‘The fundamentals of the higher education sector remain strong, underpinned by growing domestic demand and increasing mobility of international students. The vast majority of our portfolio is delivering strong levels of occupancy and rental growth but we have experienced challenges from weaker demand and higher supply in some cities. We are responding through a focus on operational excellence from our best-in-class platform to deliver sustainable rental growth, cost discipline and execution of our business plan for the acquisition of Empiric. ‘We will increase the alignment of our portfolio towards the strongest universities by accelerating disposals, delivering university partnerships and growing our addressable market through a dedicated offer to returning students. We will be disciplined and flexible in our use of capital with investment focused on delivering the best risk-adjusted returns for shareholders, including share buybacks where we consider appropriate. We remain confident in the prospects for the business and see a pathway to growth from 2027.’ Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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