- UniSuper will invest alongside existing co-owners Dexus and Blackstone in this venture.
- The portfolio was acquired from the National Pension Service of Korea.
- The deal was worth over $500 million.
The $120 billion superannuation fund has acquired a 50% interest in a 20 industrial property portfolio, with assets across Sydney and Melbourne; twelve properties from the portfolio are located in the Quarry Industrial Estate in Greater Western Sydney and the remainder is in Truganina, Melbourne.
Tenants of the industrial properties include Coles, Toll, Northline, Roche, Blackwoods, Symbion, and UPS.
The $500 million deal was negotiated by Richmond Bridge, on behalf of UniSuper, while Cushman & Wakefield represented the vendor.
Senior property manager at UniSuper, Nick Stephens, said the superannuation fund was delighted to acquire the high-quality portfolio.
“The investment adds to our $7.3 billion unlisted property portfolio,” said Stephens.
“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.”
It was a rare opportunity, said Richmond Bridge’s chief investment officer, Peter Wylie.
“We are pleased to have successfully concluded this transaction, capitalizing on a market with fewer buyers, which allowed us to secure these high-quality assets at an attractive entry price,” said Wylie.
“When presented with the opportunity to assess this portfolio for UniSuper, we did not hesitate, recognizing the rarity of such offerings in the market.
“We are immensely grateful to the UniSuper team for their collaboration, enabling us to accomplish an extensive amount of work within a short timeframe.”
Investors continue to look towards de-risking portfolios, with the flight-to-quality trend remaining strong.
“We are seeing capital being very strategic and heavily focussed on premium grade assets as opposed to taking on long-dated risk,” said Cushman & Wakefield’s international director head of industrial and logistics, Tony Iuliano.
“This global process identified multiple participants and has now set the benchmark to price discovery in the most sought-after asset class globally and in particular within Australia”.
