Canada’s NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT has teamed up with a sovereign wealth fund to create a healthcare trust in Australia, worth AUD2bn (€1.27bn).

The unnamed sovereign wealth fund will own 70% of the joint venture.

Northwest said the joint venture would be seeded with three of its Australian assets, valued at AUD$412m.

Paul Dalla Lana, the chairman and CEO of NorthWest, said: “The joint venture commitment, focused on Australian healthcare real estate, represents one of the largest in the healthcare real estate sector globally.”

The joint venture mandate is to build up an Australian portfolio with core healthcare real estate, including hospitals and related medical office buildings, through acquisition and development.

The joint veture commitment is expected to be fully deployed over a 4-year period, he said.

Early this year, NorthWest moved to integrate its Australian businesses – Viva Healthcare Management and Generation Healthcare Management - into a single platform.

As well a consolidated business interests, the restructure also delivered a pipeline of projects totalling more than AUD600m.

“With a significant pipeline of near-term opportunities, we are confident of more than doubling our investments in the region over the coming years,” Dalla Lana said.