Toby Lewis: Behind the $82m Barangaroo Deal

In what was one of the most significant retail property plays of 2022—Brisbane-based fund manager Marquette Properties scooped up the prime retail component of Lendlease’s Barangaroo in an $82-million deal. 

It was a big move into Sydney, and Marquettte’s managing director Toby Lewis says the team managed to seal the deal in a month, from due diligence, through to finalising the settlement.

And Lewis managed to go on a surfing holiday in the middle of it all. 

The Urban Developer’s chief executive Adam Di Marco sits down with Lewis to unpack the deal as part of the funds manager’s expansion into New South Wales. 

Follow The Urban Developer podcast series on Spotify here.

Marquette has been highly acquisitive in the past few years, also acquiring the Blue and Gold Towers in Brisbane’s golden triangle. 

The group now has $1.25 billion in funds under management and an average internal rate of return (IRR) of 21 per cent according to Lewis.

“Raising money didn’t come that naturally, it’s a pretty ugly job calling up strangers and saying ‘can you give me money’,” Lewis says.

“Over time we’ve worked to continue to grow our network through a lot of referral, a lot of word of mouth. But also we’re getting very proactive travelling around the country … and trying to build relationships so that when we do call, we know each other, and when we ask for money they fully know what we do and how we do it.

“We’re getting more and more sophisticated with every raise.”

Lewis says there is a degree of “tease” used to help warm up investors ahead of the raise, and the development and integration of fintech has helped to convey the proposition to potential investors. 

Go behind the scenes on the acquisition of this prime retail asset in one of Sydney’s premium harbourfront precincts.  

Listen now to The Urban Developer’s new podcast series, The Deal and Pipeline.