AustralianSuper, the A$140 bn (€86 bn) Australian pension fund, has teamed up with its debt advisor TH Real Estate to jointly finance One Crown Place in London with a £280 mln (€315 mln) development facility.
AustralianSuper has committed £230 mln and TH Real Estate’s recently launched Global Real Estate Debt Partners - Fund II (UK) (GREDP Fund II) is participating with a £50 mln commitment.
The mixed-use scheme is being developed by Malaysian conglomerate MTD Group and will provide 370,500 sq ft (34,500 m2) of space comprised of 136,000 sq ft of office space, 7,000 sq ft of retail, a 41-bed boutique hotel and 246 luxury residential units. CBRE
The loan marks AustralianSuper’s first commercial real estate (CRE) debt investment in the UK and follows the launch of a recently agreed mandate with TH Real Estate to expand their investment strategy into UK and European CRE debt. The CRE debt mandate is in addition to the direct European office and retail sector equity mandate agreed between the two parties at the beginning of 2018.
Jason Peasley, head of Mid Risk at AustralianSuper, added: 'The One Crown Place transaction strongly aligns with our real estate debt strategy to target high-quality opportunities secured against institutional assets in top-tier locations in European cities.'
AustralianSuper’s CRE debt mandate is targeting debt financing opportunities in London and other major European cities with a focus on both mezzanine and development/refurbishment opportunities for investments in excess of £100 mln.
AustralianSuper is Australia’s largest pension fund and currently manages more than A$2.4 bn in the direct credit portfolio together with over A$10 bn in the property equity portfolio.
CBRE Capital Advisors debt and structured finance team arranged and structured the transaction for MTD Group. 'We are delighted to be working in partnership with AustralianSuper and TH Real Estate for the financing of our flagship development at One Crown Place,' said Henry Robinson, senior director at CBRE Development.
TH Real Estate has $3.3bn of CRE debt-related AUM in Europe. In 2014, it launched the £300 mln Global Real Estate Debt Partners - Fund I (UK) strategy, which was followed-up by the £500 mln GREDP Fund II with a number of separate accounts managed on behalf of various other third-party investors.
MTD Group is an infrastructure-based group, established in 1993 and headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Its principal business activities range from civil engineering & construction to real estate & property development. MTD Group entered the UK development market in 2013 with the acquisition of their strategic landmark property, One Crown Place.