The agreement ensures that all the tenants of the 5,478-strong rental portfolio will not suffer from any undue disruption in services as ownership moves to Northern LGPS and LPPI in a £628.9 million deal. The structured handover is expected to take place over a period of 12 months to ensure a seamless operational transfer.

As founder and creator of The PRS REIT plc in 2017, Sigma has detailed knowledge of the portfolio. The company was responsible for sourcing the design and build of the homes and was the architect of the delivery model.

Sigma has also been responsible for the marketing, letting and management of the rental homes under its ‘Simple Life’ brand, setting new standards of tenant care in the private rented sector. The portfolio encompasses 71 sites, mainly across the English regions outside London, but also with single sites in Wales and Scotland.

The homes have been designed to cater for a broad range of renters, from singletons and young couples to families and retirees. They have proved to be extremely popular, which is reflected in extremely high portfolio performance data.

Residents have regularly rated their homes as attractive places to live, benefiting from close proximity to good primary schools, local amenities and transport links. Sigma has won numerous awards for its developments, social impact initiatives and overall performance.

Graham Barnet, founder and chief executive of Sigma Capital Group, said: “This is a landmark transaction in the build-to rent sector. Having launched the model responsible for the delivery and management of this nationwide portfolio, we’ve now agreed terms to ensure the portfolio’s smooth transfer to its new owners, Northern LGPS and LPPI, from The PRS REIT plc.

“It’s critically important that residents experience an orderly transition of services, which we will ensure.

“We continue to grow Sigma’s own balance sheet portfolio. Over the course of 2025 to date, we have increased our own BTR portfolio to around 3,245 completed homes from 1,532. We expect to expand this to around 4,100 rental homes by the end of 2026, with the portfolio on track to deliver c. 4,510 homes when the current delivery is completed. The estimated rental value of the c. 4,510 homes is approximately £72m – with the homes managed under our property platform, which includes our lettings and management brand, Simple Life.”