Charter Hall Social Infrastructure Trust has paid A$152m (€90m) for a 50% stake in a Western Sydney University campus in Australia.
Western Sydney University will retain the other 50% stake in the 26,500sqm Parramatta campus, a facility originally completed in 2017.
Travis Butcher, fund manager, Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT, said the asset had “excellent” property fundamentals, with a long lease of 16.1 years remaining and has annual rental reviews of 3 .75%.
Butcher said the fund chose to increase its exposure to the Australian education sector, because it was key to sustaining productivity and driving GDP growth.
“There are two aspects to this, being international student enrolments, and the importance of this to the economy, being Australia’s fourth largest export market. Secondly, the skilling up of the Australian workforce to meet the skills required in the future.
“Australia has set a target by 2050 to require 80 % of the workforce to have both finished school and obtained an additional qualification. Both of these factors will drive demand for tertiary and vocational education campuses.”
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