GIC REAL ESTATE AND UNITE GROUP FORM £350 MILLION JOINT VENTURE

SINGAPORE AND LONDON, 13th March 2005

GIC Real Estate Pte Ltd (GIC RE), through its affiliate, has formed a £350 million joint venture (“the Venture”) with The UNITE Group plc (“UNITE”), the UK’s largest student landlord, to develop and operate student accommodation in the capital cities of London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Belfast (the “Target Cities”). The Venture will be owned 70% by GIC RE and 30% by UNITE.

Simultaneously with the formation of the Venture, UNITE has today also sold four of its existing completed assets in the Target Cities, comprising 723 bed spaces, to the Venture for £47.5 million. Three of the properties are located in London and the other is in Edinburgh.

The Venture, which has an initial term of 8 years, aims to build upon this seed portfolio and develop a £350 million portfolio of purpose-built student accommodation in the Target Cities over the next few years. UNITE will operate the assets on behalf of the Venture.

Announcing the transaction, Dr. Seek Ngee Huat, President of GIC RE said, "The market for student accommodation in the capital cities of London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Belfast is underpinned by strong fundamentals. We believe that this joint venture presents a good opportunity for us to work with an established and leading player to realise the full potential of this emerging sector.”

Commenting on the transaction, Mark Allan, Group Finance Director at UNITE, said: “We are delighted to have secured this new partnership with GIC RE. It represents a significant further step for the Group exactly in line with our financing strategy and underlines the continued emergence of student accommodation as an investment proposition, particularly for direct let properties.

Mr Alan added, “London and Edinburgh are important existing markets for UNITE with considerable potential for growth. However, in the past, the capital intensive nature of these markets has restricted us from leveraging the opportunities fully. This transaction removes those capital constraints and also provides fresh capital for expansion into the equally exciting markets of Dublin and Belfast.”

About GIC RE
Headquartered in Singapore, GIC RE is the real estate investment arm of Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) that manages the foreign reserves of Singapore. The company manages a multi-billion dollar portfolio of direct and indirect property investments worldwide.

About UNITE
• UNITE was founded in 1991 by Nicholas Porter
  
• Further information on UNITE is available at the Company's website www.unite-group.co.uk