[+] Charlie Buxton’s Marching to the Beat of His Own Drum

No question Charlie Buxton is making a pretty good fist of things. Almost a decade deep into running Melbourne-based Cadence Property Group, his development and investment firm has transacted more than $1.54 billion of deals, controls $500 million of assets under management and has a landbank with a potential end value of about $2 billion. Quite impressive for a bloke still under 40. Not only that, he has also managed to negotiate a path beyond the sizeable shadows of his father and uncle, Victorian property identities Andrew and Michael Buxton—the fifth generation property developers who head up the powerhouse MAB Corporation, a pioneer of Melbourne’s Docklands precinct. And therein lies the rub—or, perhaps, more of a mild annoyance. Invariably, articles—yes, like this one—still refer to his high-profile property pedigree as a fortunate son or scion of one of Australia’s most successful real estate clans. What’s in a name? “Yeah, look, absolutely I find it incredibly frustrating,” he says. However, he quickly adds it is “not a big thing” or something he dwells on for too long. “It’s about eyeballs and that attracts more eyeballs and I get it.” Buxton is also by no means insensitive to the very good hand he has been dealt and the head start it has given him with Cadence, which he started in 2014 at the age of 26. ▲ Spotswood Sheds are currently under construction in Victoria. “The ability to leverage knowledge from the greater family has been invaluable for sure. I have a massive advantage through all that ... and it would be insincere to suggest that is not a head start,” he says. “So, really it’s all fine. They’re running a business. I’m running a business. We do things together. The family invests in a lot of deals we do. I wouldn’t say it has been an issue in the slightest. “But I’ll let you know when they write an article about me without mentioning my dad or my uncle … we’re not quite there,” he muses. Future focus for Cadence Gearing up for future growth opportunities, Cadence has recently undergone a restructure “to sharpen operational efficiency and to establish a robust foundation” for the journey ahead. The ambitious five-year goal is to continue growth within the development business and target $5 billion worth of assets under management. Buxton has moved from his long-held role of managing director to chief executive officer to lead the charge for Cadence, particularly in the areas of transactions and capital raising. “We’re almost 10 years into running the business and it has got to a certain size where we want to put a little more formality into our hierarchy,” he says. “And what that will allow me to do is just focus on the areas that I think I can add more value to.” He says he started the business with “fairly modest ambitions … just doing some things and seeing what happens without saying this is where I want to be in 10 years”. “But I’d say that the development side of the business is probably bigger than maybe where where we had initially thought and that maybe the funds management part of our business has been slower to grow and scale.” ▲ The sixth generation developer has a growing portfolio of owned, managed and developed industrial projects with more in the pipeline. Cadence’s management shuffle follows another milestone for the company—the successful $55-million capital raise for its first multi-asset value-add fund, the Cadence Australian Real Estate Partnership I (CAREP I)—surpassing its initial $50-million target. It comes off the back of 14 single-asset value-add real estate investments, acquired alongside its partners for about $200 million since 2015. Of those investments, it has successfully exited five assets, generating an average net annual return on equity of 55.4 per cent. Core plus, value-add, build-to-sell and build-to-hold are currently the four main strategic focuses within the business. Risk and opportunities in current market “We run a number of strategies across a number of sectors which to a degree sit in various risk buckets,” Buxton says. “We set shorter and longer-term goals within those buckets and all of them represent growth.” He says although industrial will remain a major focus for the business “we’re not pure play”. “We don’t want to just do that. But nor do we want to be fully diversified. The Urban Developer Industrial Development vSummit will take place on Thursday, September 28. Click here to register and learn more “To date, a key focus area for us has been industrial and logistics. We’ve built some fairly unique capability and a really strong track record there. “And while we expect that to continue to be the biggest part of our business, over time we want to have a few other focus areas and build up similar capability and track record there. “It ’ s about finding opportunities that we think we can buy well … [and] it ’ s about finding the right level of risk. We need to take on a bit of risk in that strategy to get our return profile. Buxton still recalls the thrill of his first deal and the delivery Cadence’s debut development—optioning up a site in Melbourne’s south-west, entering into a pre-lease for a logistics facility and pre-selling the asset to a Sydney fund manager. “The asset was worth about $10 million, which at the time felt very big … we delivered it conventionally with debt and equity, upon completion they settled, we made a profit and that was it—off to the races.” Since then, there have been several key deals that have been what he calls “step changes” for the business. “Going from a $10 million dollar deal like that to a $50 million deal to $100 million deal to a $300 million deal … each time you do that things change because the business gets bigger, the scale gets bigger and the complexity gets different. “Along that journey, there have been a number of step changes on the development side that have sort of jumped us into the next bracket …taking us from that first asset we did in 2014 to more recently large-scale built form projects of 40,000 to 60,000 square metres under roof. “On the investment side, we started off doing single asset syndicates with private capital in that value-add strategy as a way to get into the space … to more recently raising a co-mingled drawdown fund which is CAREP I. “And if we’re successful continuing that strategy, particularly through that style of vehicle, it certainly will put the business in a different bracket again. ▲ Infill industrial is a hotly contested asset class across the eastern seaboard as industrial vacancy rates remain at record lows. “Things are definitely getting more interesting at the moment. “The ability to acquire real estate at attractive valuations has traditionally been heightened in periods of uncertainty, following dramatic economic shocks and generally in environments that promote unique situational buying opportunities. “In terms of where we sit, we can do commercial, industrial and retail in that vehicle … we have some overall views of the various markets but we’ll look at all deals on their merits and try to find an opportunity. “But it’s really good to have a dedicated multi-asset vehicle like that at the moment because for the right things we can move quickly.” Passion for property has been a driving force for the business success of the Buxton dynasty, dating back to 1860 when W.P. Buckhurst and J.R. Buxton established one of Melbourne ’ s first real estate agencies. The property bug But according to Buxton—who studied business at Swinburne University—although he remembers being “always around” property development, tagging along with his dad to Docklands and various industrial estates, there was never a line drawn in the sand. “I ’ ve just done this because I find it interesting. I enjoy it. I enjoy the people I work with. I find it challenging. And if you do it well it can be really rewarding financially as well. So it was never about proving anything for me. “I’ve always had an interest in business in general and various forms of investment.” However, Buxton admits property development was not something that particularly appealed to him off the bat—that is, not until the penny dropped when he started working on-and-off informally at MAB Corp while studying at university. “Looking at spreadsheets and starting to understand development and that if I do x, y and z I can create value, control that and scale it. That was really exciting for me and that’s when I sort of got the bug.” You are currently experiencing The Urban Developer Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. Click here to learn more.

[+] Charlie Buxton’s Marching to the Beat of His Own Drum

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