After nearly a year of waiting, Lendlease has the go-ahead for a $1.3-billion deal to offload a dozen masterplanned communities.
Approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board this week marks the final regulatory hurdle for the major acquisition by fellow developer Stockland.
The deal was announced in December of 2023 when Lendlease told the ASX that it had entered into a deal to sell the communities to Stockland alongside its Thailand-based capital partner Supalai Australia.
Lendlease has 16 masterplanned projects in total and is offloading 12 communities, in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia.
At the time Lendlease said the transaction represented a significant milestone as it “reweighs capital to investments, reduces gearing and realises the value created in these projects”.
But the deal was subject to approvals, including from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), and the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).
The deal was held up when the ACCC outlined “preliminary competition concerns” over the deal.
“We are concerned that the proposed acquisition would remove one of Stockland’s closest and largest competitors in the supply of residential masterplanned community housing lots in four regions—the Illawarra, North West Perth, Ipswich, and Moreton Bay,” ACCC commissioner Liza Carver said in July.
“We are concerned that other developers of masterplanned community projects may not be able to compete sufficiently with Stockland after the acquisition in some regions,” she said.
The ACCC was particularly concerned about the lack of competition in the “already highly concentrated” Illawarra region, where Stockland has its Forest Reach Project [main image] and Lendlease its Calderwood Valley development.
The ACCC undertook a review of the deal, and announced in September it would not oppose the proposed acquisition, subject to conditions that addressed those initial concerns.
The Foreign Investment Review Board’s determination this week means that the deal can move ahead.
Subject to landowner consents, completion was expected in the second quarter of the 2025 financial year, Lendlease said in a statement.
The communities are:
Kinma Valley (Qld), 2500 lots
Yarrabilba (Qld), 15,600 lots
Springfield Rise (Qld), 4500 lots
Shoreline (Qld), 3000 lots
Figtree Hill (NSW), 1700 new homes
Calderwood Valley (NSW), 5000 lots
Aurora (Vic), 7500 lots
Atherstone (Vic), 4200 new homes
Harpley (Vic), 4300 lots
Averley (Vic), 1500 lots
Alkimos Beach (WA), 2139 lots
Alkimos Vista (WA), 550 new homes.
