Dexus has seeded its first Australian opportunistic real estate fund with three assets worth around A$245m.

For the first time, through the Dexus Real Estate Partnership 1 (DREP1) fund, Dexus has gone into residential development financing with a non-bank lender Solido Capital.

DREP1 and Solido are providing a A$70m construction finance facility to a project in Elsternwick, an inner Melbourne suburb.

Dexus sees this initial joint investment with a non-bank provider of credit for residential property development projects as providing potential access to further credit deal flows.

DREP1 has a diversified approach. Its seed assets include an office development in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Richmond, and a 50% stake in an industrial site in western Sydney, which will be developed into a 20,000sqm small unit industrial estate.

Dexus is a co-investor with the fund in the industrial project in the Sydney suburb of Chester.

Deborah Coakley, Dexus’ executive general manager, funds management said: “These investments have the potential to provide the fund with attractive risk-adjusted returns from return-enhancing opportunities.

Dexus CEO, Darren Steinberg said the new fund would benefit from leveraging the group’s full-service platform, originating new opportunities to deliver enhanced returns.

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