The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) has entered into two deals with Qualitas, which include up to A$1.7bn (€1.2bn) worth of commercial real estate credit investment mandates and equity investment in the ASX-listed non-bank lender.

ADIA is investing an initial A$700m in Qualitas Diversified Credit Investments (QDCI), a new vehicle created exclusively for the sovereign wealth fund with Qualitas co-investing 5% or A$35m in QDCI.

In addition, Qualitas has granted options to ADIA under which the investor may acquire up to 32.6m new ordinary shares in Qualitas, representing almost 10% of issued equity.

Andrew Schwarz, group managing director and co-founder of Qualitas, told IPE Real Assets that the options were priced at A$2.50 each – the same as the company’s initial public offering share price – and would be worth A$82m in total.

“But in order to access the options, ADIA has to give Qualitas another A$700m mandate to pick up the first 7% of our shares, and thereafter, it will get an additional 1% for every A$100m additional mandate up to A$1bn.”

Asked why ADIA wanted to be a shareholder in Qualitas, Schwarz said the investor could see “a lot of value uplift as the business grows”.

“ADIA is awarding more mandates to us and would like to share in the value of a growing business. By investing in the company, they are creating an alignment with the management company.”

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