September 3, 2025 – New York/Austin – Yugo, the first global student housing brand and operator, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Campus Advantage, an industry leading student housing property management business and real estate investment management firm in the U.S.
This acquisition ignites Yugo’s brand power and a new movement to transform its impact on the student housing sector. It reinforces Yugo’s commitment to delivering performance, value and opportunity to property owners and clients.
Yugo, is part of The Dot Group, and is a leading and well-established student housing brand, operating across the U.S.. As the largest and most diversified student housing operator globally, Yugo spans 14 countries and 120 cities, creating a Yugo home for 160,000 student customers in 2025.
Campus Advantage will transition to Yugo U.S., welcoming over 430 new team members, and will add immediate and significant scale in both properties and talent base, with a combined market reach of nearly 40,000 beds across 88 properties in 28 states.
With this acquisition, Yugo has deepened and extended its operational capacity that provides breadth and depth of experience to enable accelerated growth in North America. This is the next step in Yugo’s plan to redefine student housing management in the U.S. and globally.
Campus Advantage, founded in 2003 by Mike Peter and headquartered in Austin, Texas, shares a strong cultural and pioneering alignment with Yugo, that will deliver impact and commercial edge.
Mike Peter, with immediate effect will be CEO of Yugo U.S. and joins the global C-Suite leadership team. With over 30 years of experience, he brings a deep passion for the sector and a wealth of industry knowledge that will elevate the leadership team and deliver enhanced performance.
As part of this transaction and to further strengthen the newly combined leadership team, Jim Sholders will be joining the business as President of Yugo U.S. to lead the operational team that will deliver scale and efficiencies across the Yugo brand for clients and students.
Jim is a heavyweight of the student housing sector and brings an impressive resume having previously held the CEO and COO roles at Campus Life & Style, and prior to that spent 15 years at American Campus Communities.
Yugo also plans on establishing a new benchmark across the U.S. by introducing its global leading technology platform and commercial partnerships — a transformative step that will be game changing to its value proposition and the future.
TD Securities acted as advisers to Yugo and the broader Dot Group with legal and tax advice provided by Greenberg Traurig and PWC.
Nicholas Porter, CEO of The Dot Group commented:
“This is a defining moment for Yugo that will ignite a new movement for the U.S. student housing industry. We don’t follow the market – we evoke a point of difference by setting the pace across our industry. With this transaction we have created an operational powerhouse to elevate the Yugo brand and deliver a U.S. growth strategy to position Yugo as the leading student housing operator in the country.
Combining Yugo’s unrivalled global expertise with Campus Advantage’s deep local market knowledge and operational excellence creates the scale and reach to do something truly different.
I am delighted to welcome the entire Campus Advantage team to this exciting next chapter. With over three decades of pioneering leadership and proven track record, having Mike Peter lead Yugo U.S. is only accretive and will be key to our future success.”
Mike Peter, CEO of Yugo U.S. said:
“This is an exciting time and a unique opportunity for our business and industry. Since I started Campus Advantage almost 23 years ago, I have been passionate about the industry, unlocking potential with great partners and supercharging growth.
Joining Yugo, allows us to be part of something bigger with real momentum and provides the scale and scope to elevate our operations and asset values while securing new opportunities for our people, students and clients. I also welcome Jim Sholders as President of Yugo U.S., his leadership and experience will be integral to delivering operational excellence and I am looking forward to getting started with our talented teams."
