UTS and University of NSW sell assets as Covid bites

It is understood UNSW is looking to sell parts of its carparking facilities, which could be worth about $100 million. Picture: UNSW Sydney

Signs are emerging of the financial pressure Australian universities are facing from the pandemic-inflicted travel restrictions on international students, with both UTS and the University of NSW placing assets on the market.

It is understood that the UNSW is looking to sell parts of its carparking facilities, which could be worth about $100 million.

UTS, meanwhile, is selling its Sydney student accommodation portfolio, which includes three student accommodation assets with 428 beds.

Before the pandemic, student accommodation had been in strong demand, with Scape, the largest owner-operator of off-campus purpose-built student accommodation buying rival student accommodation provider Urbanest for $2.2 billion and the Atira Student Living platform.

Australian universities have been hit hard from the absence of international students brought on when the global pandemic hit last year.

In March, the listed IDP Education announced a restructure proposal to enable liquidity for its cash-strapped university shareholders.

The deal could see 38 major Australian universities receive about $70 million each from their collective 40 per cent stake in IDP, which is held through Education Australia.

Under the terms of the proposal, Education Australia would equally distribute 25 per cent of IDP Education to its university shareholders and divest the remaining 15 per cent via a market selldown by December 11, with most of the proceeds used to pay capital gains tax and the rest distributed as franking credits.