Singapore’s Mapletree Investments has made its first foray into the Melbourne office market with the purchase of a tower in St Kilda Road for about AUD145m (€97m).
It is the seventh office asset acquired in Australia by the Temasek-owned property group, and it will be held on Mapletree’s balance sheet.
At the end of March, Mapletree’s assets under management in Australia totalled SGD1.14bn (€711m), including office, logistics and serviced apartments.
The latest acquisition is located in the main thoroughfare servicing a commercial area immediately adjacent to Melbourne’s central business district.
Last December, Mapletree acquired a portfolio of four industrial assets in Victoria from Growthpoint Properties Australia for AUD142m.
That transaction came after the Singapore group in 2015 acquired what is known as Coles chilled distribution centre, in Sydney from Altis Properties for AUD253m.
The group has accelerated the pace of its offshore investments this year. In June, it acquired a portfolio of 3,715 student beds from US group Kayne Anderson Real Estate, to bring its total student housing portfolio to more than 18,000 beds in the US, UK and Canada.
In February, it acquired the US-based Oakwood Worldwide, a provider of corporate housing and serviced apartment solutions, and active in Australia.
