UPP is rising above the recent doom and gloom as it celebrates another spectacular year with occupancy levels of more than 99 per cent across its portfolio of university partners.
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26/09/2008 - UPP Appoints New Finance Director
University Partnerships Programme (UPP), the country's leading provider of on-campus student accommodation, has appointed Gabriel Behr as finance director to help drive the company towards achieving its two-year strategy for growth.
Earlier this year UPP outlined its vision to increase its education infrastructure investment by £1 billion and to expand its portfolio of student rooms to 35,000 - effectively doubling the business - by 2010. This also includes rolling out its BREEAM-excellent sustainable accommodation model.
Gabriel, a chartered accountant, has developed expertise across a range of sectors over the last 12 years. His previous role was at Energ Plc, where he was responsible for the financial management of an international division, acquisition policy, and PFI contracts.
Before that he worked with Oak Park Group, an Australian specialist in civil infrastructure construction. Previously, in his role as Group Finance Director and Company Secretary, Gabriel grew an advertising and media group by acquisition and successfully listed the company on AIM.
Of his new role Gabriel said:
"It is a really exciting time for a company like UPP. Despite the problems of the property sector, the student accommodation market remains strong and ripe for investment. UPP's growth plans are challenging, but there is plenty of potential and I am looking forward to taking up the gauntlet."
UPP's chief executive, Sean O'Shea, said:
"We are already well on the way to achieving our aims for 2010 - we have raised over £320m of debt in the last four months alone, have recently announced a deal with Nottingham Trent University and have also just opened our first regional office in Leeds. Gabriel has a wealth of experience that will help us build on our successes and achieve our goals by maximising opportunities."
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Ian Lindsley, Ben Russell, Fran O’Leary, Jefferson CommunicationsTel: +44 (0)20 7256 8912
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Notes to Editors University Partnerships Programme (UPP) is the trading name of the UPP Group of companies. It specialises in funding, developing and operating student accommodation schemes. It has invested almost £1 billion in the higher education sector and plans to invest a further £1 billion over the next two years.
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