Australian Unity Secures Additional $320m Refinance for Development Pipeline

Australian Unity’s $1.5 billion Healthcare Property Trust has refinanced its debt facility to $740 million.

Australian Unity is preferred tenderer with the Queensland government in the development of a $347 million specialist rehabilitation and ambulatory care centre as part of the $1.1 billion Herston Quarter redevelopment in inner-north Brisbane.

The HPT has secured a further $320 million in funding that will support the progress of the fund’s $550 million development pipeline and lay the groundwork for further growth and expansion.

The new debt facility replaces an existing agreement and results in an extension of the HPT’s loan term to a minimum of five to seven years. It includes long-term capital partners ANZ, Westpac and NAB, as well as new partner, AustralianSuper.

Executive general manager of property at Australian Unity, Mark Pratt, said that the management of debt was as important to the Fund as its active and prudent management of the 44 healthcare related properties in the portfolio.

“In a globally competitive environment, this long-term financing provides certainty for investors that the HPT can continue to progress its half a billion dollar development pipeline supporting its ability to produce strong returns for investors,” Pratt said.

The HPT announced in November that it had raised $250 million in order to fund future development and acquisition opportunities.

The Herston Quarter project is set to provide Queenslanders with access to state-of-the-art health, hospital and aged care services, as well as creating scope in the future for international standard research and educational facilities.

Australian Unity’s Healthcare Property Trust currently owns 44 individual healthcare assets, including hospitals, medical clinics, aged-care facilities, day surgeries, medical offices, consulting rooms, rehabilitation units, radiology and pathology centres.

In October the Australian Unity Office Fund acquired 150 Charlotte Street, Brisbane for $105.75 million.

Australian Unity’s Healthcare Property Trust is the largest healthcare property fund in the country.