International law firm Taylor Wessing has acted for McLaren on the sale by way of forward funding of a portfolio valued at approximately £150m of six student housing developments to a new investment vehicle owned by a group of German pension funds and managed by Hines, a US-based privately owned global real estate investment firm.The portfolio comprises six development sites in Cambridge, Oxford, Kingston, Aberdeen and two locations in Brighton, and will deliver more than 1,100 beds in total. Planning consent to develop purpose-built student accommodation has been secured on four sites, with approval on the remaining two expected later this year.Paul Leamy, Partner in the Real Estate group at Taylor Wessing, said: “Taylor Wessing has been an active player in the purpose built student accommodation sector throughout its evolution acting for a range of developers, investors and funders. We have wide ranging experience and an in depth knowledge of the market and its sophistications for all stakeholders. We are delighted to have worked on this transaction with long-standing client McLaren, a leading UK developer with a strong track record in the sector.”The Taylor Wessing team was led by Real Estate partner Paul Leamy and Real Estate consultant Eamonn Cannon and was supported by James Dutson and Jeenna Atwal (Real Estate), Natasha Cooper (Corporate), Alistair Watson and Emma Tait (Planning), Jill Hamilton (Construction) and Gabriel Estevez (Finance).McLaren and Taylor Wessing have been working together since 2010 on McLaren’s pipeline of developments in the student accommodation sector. Previous transactions have included the development of a 358 bed scheme at The Movement, Greenwich which was pre-let to the University of Greenwich and sold by way of forward funding to Legal & General, a joint venture with Apache Capital for the development of a 456 bed student accommodation and 43,000 sq ft office scheme in Shoreditch, London and the development and forward sale to LetterOne of a portfolio of student accommodation properties in Bath, Brighton, Edinburgh and York.