LONDON, October 6, 2026 – HSAM Europe, the European investment platform of Harrison Street Asset Management (“Harrison Street”), is pleased to announce the successful exit of RoundShield Fund IV’s investment and a further realisation for RoundShield Fund V, following Merkel Capital’s sale of three Spanish purpose-built student accommodation assets to Westwind Capital.
Harrison Street acquired a majority interest in RoundShield in 2025 with the latter’s senior management continuing to lead the business. The firm integrated Harrison Street’s European platform into RoundShield Partners and rebranded as HSAM Europe in Summer 2026.
HSAM Europe partnered with Merkel Capital to provide senior secured financing to support the acquisition and development of purpose-built student accommodation in prime university locations across Spain.
The portfolio comprises assets financed through an investment originated in 2023 by RS Fund V, together with the final remaining asset from an earlier investment originated in 2021 by RS Fund IV. The other assets within the Fund IV investment were sold to Greystar in 2025.
The transaction is expected to generate meaningful proceeds for the two HSAM Europe funds, supporting further distributions to investors. It also completes the realisation of the 2021 investment, delivering a strong outcome across the investment as a whole.
Driss Benkirane, CIO and Co-Head of Europe at Harrison Street Asset Management commented: “Returning capital to investors remains a central priority. While European transaction volumes continue to be subdued, Spain has remained one of the few markets where we have continued to see institutional demand for well-located student accommodation supported by compelling supply-demand fundamentals. Despite a challenging transaction environment, this generates further liquidity for our investors, completes the realisation of our earlier Fund IV investment and represents another step in the realisation of our Fund V exposure.”
In Madrid, the residence is located beside the southern campus of the Polytechnic University of Madrid and will comprise 837 beds on completion. Its first phase, providing 565 beds, is operational for the 2026–2027 academic year. Construction has commenced on the second phase, which will deliver a further 272 beds.
In Valencia, the 276-bed residence is situated in the Benicalap neighbourhood, adjacent to tram connections serving three of the city’s largest university campuses. The property is expected to open for the 2027–2028 academic year.
In Granada, the 293-bed residence has been operational since September 2024. It is located on the city’s Health Campus, alongside San Cecilio University Hospital and the Faculty of Health Sciences.
The sale takes place against a backdrop of sustained institutional interest in Spanish student accommodation, supported by a significant shortage of purpose-built beds relative to demand. The portfolio’s acquisition by a new institutional entrant demonstrates the continuing availability of exit liquidity for well-located assets in the sector, including those where development remains underway.
For HSAM Europe, the transaction demonstrates the importance of asset selection and identifying credible institutional exit routes within European real estate. It also illustrates the distinction between a challenging broader transaction environment and the liquidity available in some individual markets supported by strong underlying demand and constrained supply. HSAM Europe’s credit platform, built on RoundShield’s investment heritage, provides real estate and asset-backed lending across Western Europe, offering flexible capital solutions to the mid-market on behalf of institutional investors. With a track record dating back to 2013, the team combines deep local origination relationships with specialist real estate underwriting and integrated asset management and restructuring capabilities. Its strategies range from senior secured lending, to more complex, opportunistic financing, with a consistent focus on underlying property value, disciplined structuring and downside protection.
About Harrison Street Asset Management
Harrison Street Asset Management is a leading global alternative investment management firm with $109 billion in assets under management across real estate, infrastructure, and credit strategies. Headquartered in Chicago, Toronto, and London with over 600 employees in offices across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, the firm offers innovative solutions across a variety of closed-end, open-end and specialized vehicles on behalf of over 1,100 institutional investors and over 300 Registered Investment Advisors.1
1HSAM data and descriptions of HSAM’s business are generally comprised of the aggregated data and business activities of investment advisors that are owned in whole or in part by HSAM. Assets under management (“AUM”) reflects the AUM for the investment advisory and asset management clients of such investment advisors and is inclusive of the regulatory AUM of such investment advisors as would be reported in their respective Form ADVs.
HSAM Media Contacts:
Hsameurope@peregrinecommunications.com
+44 020 3178 68 68
HSAM@dlpr.com
+1 646-722-6530
