Mid-week ASX property wrap: 9 March

• The market closed at 7,053.00 points
• HomeCo rebranded as HMC Capital
• US Student Housing REIT began trading on the ASX

As if walking before the Sphinx – what opens in the morning, grew by day, and changed colours after a good night’s rest?

The answer: ASX listed real estate companies.

We’ve seen the listing of US Student Housing REIT (ASX: USQ), a successful merger between AVN and HomeCo, as well as Ingenia (ASX: INA) acquiring three communities, and HomeCo rebranding as HMC Capital.

The broader market

The ASX200 closed today at 7,053.00 points, up 72.20 points or 1.04%.

Top-performing ASX listed real estate company shares: [DD Month] 2021

Source: ASX

In addition to the top performers, the bottom five (from fifth lowest to lowest) were:

Least-performing ASX listed real estate company shares: [DD Month] 2021

Source: ASX

The movement

Kicking off with some acquisition news from Thursday last week, Ingenia (ASX: INA) acquired three lifestyle communities in Melbourne for $87 million. The acquisitions were included in the $552 million acquisitions announcement made in November last year, INA has now closed 19 of the 20 acquisitions announced.

The acquisition of the Federation Villages portfolio was via the purchase of outstanding securities (80.4%) in the Eight Gate Residences Fund No. 6. The three villages are located in Werribee, Sunshine, and Glenroy.

“We know the communities well, having operated them for over two years now, and we see strong opportunities for targeted reinvestment to improve longer term returns and homeowner satisfaction,” said INA CEO Simon Owen.

“When we acquired the Funds business we negotiated an option to acquire the assets on wind up of any of the six Funds. We are pleased to be able to satisfy the requirements of investors in Fund No. 6 for liquidity while enhancing our access to quality lifestyle communities, which are becoming increasingly competitively sought,” Mr Owen added.

The remaining five funds are focused on holiday communities, consistent with the planned $100 million fund that Ingenia expects to launch over 2022.

Friday last week saw the news that the Aventus (ASX: AVN) HomeCo merger was successfully implemented. Aventus shares and units were unstapled, with HDN acquiring all units in Aventus and HomeCo acquiring all shares in Aventus.

On Monday, Sunland Group (ASX: SDG) announced a board and management restructure. The company said in a statement that “Directors believe it is appropriate the Board restructure in order to reduce overhead expenses so they are commensurate with the size of the Group’s operations.”

Executive chairman Soheil Abedian and MD Sahba Abedian will both reduce their remuneration arrangements by 40%. Rebecca Frizelle and Vahid Saberi will resign as directors, and remunerations arrangements for each of the remaining non executive directors will remain at the current arrangements.

Group executive employees will have their remuneration adjusted to reflect their working week.

Yesterday, Home Consortium (ASX: HMC) announced a rebrand. Also known as HomeCo, the company will become HMC Capital. The move does not affect the branding of other HMC Capital REITs: HomeCo Daily Needs (ASX: HDN) and HealthCo Healthcare & Wellness REIT (ASX: HCW).

Auctus Investment Group (ASX: AVC) announced in December last year the intended listing of American student housing company US Student Housing REIT (ASX: USQ). Yesterday was the first day of trading, the company issue price was $1.38, with a market cap of $76.6 million upon listing.

AVC is the appointed investment manager of the REIT and receives a management fee of 0.60% per annum of gross asset value. AVC has invested A$4.14 million into the REIT and is a 5.4% holder of units as alignment capital.

That’s the latest in ASX listed real estate companies, where the ASX was on four feet this morning, two in the afternoon, but whether on three at the close of trading – that’s up for debate.

Meetings and distributions

Upcoming AGM’s announced: