While the market was somewhat sluggish in 2023, there were significant transactions of portfolios and individual assets across a spread of sectors during the year. Here are 10 of the most significant...
Buyer: Mitsubishi Estate in JV with CEFC
Seller: Mirvac
Price: $1 billion (scaled; Mirvac retained 44 per cent)
Buildings: 2172 apartments across five buildings
Where: Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne
Agent: —
Mirvac inked the $1.8-billion build-to-rent venutre in June this year.
The deal with Clean Energy Finance Corporation, “which facilitates increased flows of finance into the clean energy sector”, included Mirvac’s operational build-to-rent assets and pipeline with the property group retaining a 44 per cent interest in the venture.
A Mirvac spokeswoman confirmed CEFC and Mitsubishi Estate would take a 56 per cent share, however, the identity of second investor was not revealed.
The developer recently completed Liv Indigo in Sydney and Liv Munro in Melbourne, and has Liv Anura in Brisbane in the pipeline along with its Melbourne projects, Liv Aston and Liv Albert Fields.
Buyer: AsheMorgan JV Mitsubishi Estate
Seller: Mirvac JV Blackstone
Price: $777.2 million
Buildings: 39-storey office tower
Where: Sydney
Agent: Cushman and Wakefield; JLL
Japan’s Mitsubishi Estate teamed up with Australian investment firm AsheMorgan to acquire a Sydney commercial tower owned by Blackstone and Mirvac, the nation’s largest office buy this year.
“The sale of 60 Margaret Street and MetCentre forms part of our strategic asset sales program, helping to further strengthen our balance sheet and improve cash-flow resilience of our investment portfolio in a challenging operating environment,” Mirvac managing director Campbell Hanan said.
Blackstone was also offloading its 50 per cent interest in the building as the US private equity titan continues to trim down office holdings globally.
Buyer: Unisuper
Seller: Korean National Pension Service
Price: $500 million (50 per cent stake in Dexus shed fund)
Buildings: 20 assets in portfolio
Where: NSW and Victoria
Agent: Cushman and Wakefield
South Korea’s National Pension Service sold its 50 per cent stake in an industrial property portfolio of 20 assets in Sydney and Melbourne to Australian pension fund UniSuper for more than $500 million.
The portfolio of Dexus-developed properties, known as the Australian Industrial Partnership, is a joint venture whose other half is owned by Dexus Australian Logistics Trust.
The 340,000sq m (3.7 million square feet) of space is leased to tenants including supermarket chain Coles and international courier UPS.
UniSuper senior property manager Nick Stephens said the 340,000sq m of space was underpinned by quality tenants, including Coles and UPS.
“We are delighted to acquire this high-quality portfolio of stabilised income producing assets to complement our existing industrial development pipeline in the strongly performing logistics sector,” Stephens said.
“The investment adds to our $7.3 billion unlisted property portfolio. The transaction highlights UniSuper’s ability to transact swiftly without the need for debt funding or regulatory approvals. As genuine long-term investors, we continue to look for unique opportunities that help our members grow their retirement savings.”
Buyer: Daiwa House
Seller: Lendlease
Price: $487 million (scaled; Lendlease retains 25 per cent interest)
Buildings: 45-storey build-to-rent tower, 797 apartments
Where: Melbourne
Agent: JLL
Global construction and real estate giant Lendlease and Daiwa House—Japan’s biggest homebuilder—announced a deal to deliver a 45-storey build-to-rent tower in the heart of Melbourne in July this year and have just put shovels to dirt on the project.
“This announcement highlights continuing demand from our Japanese partners for high-quality opportunities across our global project pipeline,” Lendlease Australia chief executive Dale Connor said.
Work is under way on Lendlease’s first build-to-rent project in Melbourne. It is the first Australian build-to-rent for Daiwa.
Buyer: Daibiru
Seller: Mirvac
Price: $315 million (scaled; Mirvac retained 50 per cent stake)
Buildings: 20-storey office tower under construction
Where: Melbourne
Agent: Knight Frank; Cushman and Wakefield
Japanese real estate house Daibiru has taken a half-stake in Mirvac’s A-grade office tower at 7 Spencer Street on the south-western edge of the Melbourne CBD.
The tower is part of plans for the former site of the Melbourne Convention Centre acquired from Century Group Ausby Mirvac for $200 million in late 2019.
Daibiru now holds 50 per cent of the 21-storey, $630-million tower, which will boast about 46,000sq m of floor space with floorplates up to 3000 square metres.
The all-electric tower will target a 5 Star Green Star rating, 4.5 Star NABERS Water rating, 5.5 Star NABERS Energy rating and a Gold WELL Core and Shell rating.
The Fender Katsalidis-designed “next-generation” office tower includes 10 terraces to make the most of natural light.
Work on the site, on the bank of the Yarra and close to the Flinders Street intersection, began this year.
Buyer: QuadReal
Seller: Cedar Pacific
Price: $614.6 million (10 per cent stake buyout)
Buildings: 20-storey office tower under construction
Where: Melbourne
Agent: -
ASX-listed GPT Group has taken over the management of a $1-billion portfolio of student accommodation in Australia and New Zealand after Canadian investment giant QuadReal acquired Cedar Pacific’s 10 per cent stake in the fund.
The mandate was previously managed by Cedar Pacific, which had a minority ownership stake in the 5000-bed portfolio.
The fund was launched in 2015 and successfully developed eight of the fund’s nine assets, deploying more than $750 million across Australia and New Zealand.
Cedar Pacific announced in October it achieved a gross internal rate of return of 14.7 per cent. It is now capital raising for its move into build-to-rent.
Buyer: Fiveight
Seller: Lendlease JV Mitsubishi Estate
Price: $575 million
Buildings: 25-storey hotel
Where: Sydney
Agent: McVay Real Estate; CBRE
Andrew Forrest’s Fiveight has paid an estimated $575 million for the Waldorf Astoria hotel project at Sydney’s Circular Quay.
His company Fiveight has bought the property on the site of the former Gold Fields House, next door to One Circular Quay.
Previous joint-owners of the project Lendlease and Mitsubishi Estate Asian paid $850 million for the site in July last year. Mitsubishi Estate Asia has a 66.7 per cent stake in the joint venture.
Lendlease and Mitsubishi Estate Asia will retain the other tower, One Circular Quay, a residential tower that has already netted $1 billion in sales.
Fiveight, a property investment arm of Forrest’s property company, Tattarang, will also take over the 11 retail sites planned for the lower levels of the two towers.
Buyer: Blackstone
Seller: Valparaiso Capital
Price: $500 million (unconfirmed)
Buildings: Three student towers (2300 beds)
Where: Brisbane
Agent: JLL
Private equity firm Blackstone made its move into student accommodation in a $500-million off-market deal in September.
The deal comprises three purpose-built student accommodation assets in Brisbane with more than 2300 beds and a 40-person management platform.
Blackstone owns student-housing portfolios in the US and the UK, with a focus on buying PBSA assets in locations with strong fundamentals, including strong international student markets and low on-campus accommodation offerings in metropolitan areas.
Buyer: HMC Capital JV HealthCo REIT
Seller: Medical Properties Trust
Price: $477 million
Buildings: Ringwood Private Hospital, Knox Private Hospital, Campbelltown Private Hospital
Where: Sydney, Melbourne
Agent: —
The Medical Properties Trust deal lifts HMC Capital’s total assets under management to $7.5 billion and puts it on track to hit its target of $10 billion in assets under management by the end of 2023. This deal was a tranche within the $1.2-billion Healthscope deal.
Included in that portfolio is $4.7 billion of convenience retail assets owned by the ASX-listed HomeCo Daily Needs REIT, created following the acquisition of the former Masters portfolio in 2016.
The acquisition of the Healthscope hospitals was reportedly struck on a net yield of 5.8 per cent and is forecast to deliver total returns of more than 9 per cent.
Buyer: CBUS Property
Seller: Multiplex
Price: $477 million
Buildings: 19-storey commercial tower
Where: Perth
Agent: CBRE
Brookfield and Cbus Property formed a joint venture to develop the $500-million office building in the Western Australian capital.
The Nine The Esplanade project at Perth’s Elizabeth Quay, is under construction and anticipated to be completed in 2025.
Located at Lot 6, the property will be a 19-storey Premium Grade office tower with floorplates averaging 1870 square metres. The new office will also be home to uninterrupted river views, state-of-the-art end-of-trip facilities, excellent transport links and dynamic tenant amenity, including a cafe, business lounge, conferencing facilities and waterfront dining.
It also will neighbour another Brookfield development, One The Esplanade, which reached practical completion this year.
