The offering comprises three tranches of long-dated, asset-backed, fixed rateSterling eurobonds. Payments of interest on all tranches, and the principal oncertain tranches, will be made from rental receipts from the portfolio. The majority of the stock is expected to attract a AAA rating from Standard & Poor's, but two further tranches are being made available, one with a credit rating of A and another with a BBB 'junk bond' rating.

The properties are situated across the UK and were valued at £351 million ($500 million) at 31 December 2001, generating net rent of £23.3 million ($33.5 million) per annum. The assets are a mixture of those leased to institutions, the subject of nominations agreements and let directly to students.

Unite plans to use the proceeds to repay existing bank facilities of £221 million ($318 million) with the surplus providing further working capital, releasing £39 million ($56 million) of capital for reinvestment into its development pipeline. Chief Financial Officer Simon Bernstein said: 'Unite is breaking new ground in the financing of student and key worker accommodation. This securitisation demonstrates the excellent quality of our completed portfolio and proves our commitment to recycle our capital and our ability to fund our significant growth plans.'