mys Living, the first values-led rental living company led by Murdo Mcilhagger and David Mathewson has completed the management buyout of the business from abrdn. 

In this joint statement abrdn and the management team at mys said:  

abrdn, the global investment manager with over €10bn of Living assets under management has completed the sale of their Purpose Built Student Accommodation (‘PBSA’) operational business to the minority joint venture partners, Murdo Mcilhagger and David Mathewson.  

Murdo and David will will take on the business of mys Living and continue to provide asset and operational management for PBSA investors and other Living asset classes under the mys brand. 

Anne Breen, Head of Real Estate at abrdn commented ‘We wish Dave and Murdo every success on the mys project as they take the business forward in a new direction.  abrdn’s ambitions to grow both in the student and wider residential space remain unchanged and we continue to develop and evolve our offering to best serve our clients needs’. 

Murdo Mcilhagger, joint founder of mys Living added ‘With the mys team and brand firmly established we are excited to take full ownership of our values led business which will allow us to pursue some of the exciting opportunities that are already in the pipeline.’ 

Murdo has worked in real estate since 2004. He has experience transacting and managing in all sectors and has worked on Listed vehicles, Private Equity, Insurance, and Pension Fund mandates. Murdo has a strong network within the PBSA sector including universities and operators. This network and experience has enabled him to acquire assets, build a PBSA operating platform, and agree nominations deals with universities. He also led capital deployment into Senior Living in UK and North America and was tasked with creating an operating capability in that sector.   

David has worked in real estate since 2001. An early adopter to the PBSA sector, he was one of the lead site finders for Knightsbridge – one of the first PBSA companies in the UK, backed by Oaktree, who exited successfully to GIC in 2016 with over 7,000 beds and its own operating platform. He then went on to head up Alternative Investments at Capita where he sourced and transacted over £2bn of PBSA assets as well as acting as retained advisor to universities such as Durham. Dave’s experience means he has been instrumental in developing the operating platform, transacting standing and development assets in the sector.  

Together they are leading mys towards a quiet revolution in the industry with a socially responsible business model of building trust with customers and clients. Their culture of continuous improvement as evident by this buyout, makes them an attractive economically resilient proposition.