CMS Portugal and PLMJ advised the Catella European Residential Fund (CER) in their first venture into the emerging Portuguese institutional investment market for student housing, with the acquisition of an asset in the municipality of Cascais, for €15.5 million and with a 99-year leasehold.

To advise Catella CER, CMS Portugal had a multidisciplinary team led by partners Francisco Xavier de Almeida, Corporate M&A and João Pinheiro da Silva, Real Estate, in which the following team members also participated: João Mendes Rodrigues (senior associate, Real Estate), Diogo Mafra (senior associate, Corporate M&A) and Miguel Santos Ferreira (associate, Corporate M&A). For tax matters, Catella CER was advised by PLMJ’s team which included Isaque Ramos (partner, Tax), Dinis Tracana (senior associate, Tax), Carolina Campos Dias and Ana Raquel Magalhães (associates).

European student accommodation provider MILESTONE operates the residence under a management contract. MILESTONE was founded in Vienna, is member of the Value One Group, an international real estate Developer and student housing operator and brings extensive knowledge of the conception, design and successful management of student housing, combined with international expertise. MILESTONE currently has 4,627 beds of purpose-built student housing under management and in development across Austria, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Poland and Italy.