GIC invests in Canberra office market with Charter Hall

GIC and Charter Hall have bought an office building in the Australian capital Canberra from Mirae Global Asset Management for A$335m (€208m).

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund has formed a joint venture with Charter Hall to undertake the acquisition of 50 Marcus Clarke, a government-tenanted, A-grade building.

IPE Real Assets understands that GIC will have a 95% interest, with Charter Hall holding the remaining 5%.

Lee Kok Sun, GIC’s CIO for real estate, said: “This acquisition will add to diversification of GIC’s office portfolio across key cities in the Australian market – where GIC has been investing for many years.”

GIC opened an office in Sydney in June and this year stepped up investments in Australia, including the purchase with ESR of the $3.8bn Milestone Logistics Portfolio from Blackstone in April.

Kishore Gotety, GIC’s co-head of real estate for Asia ex-China, said: “The Canberra market has performed well during COVID, with continued macro-economic growth and low office vacancy.

“Going forward, we expect steady office demand, underpinned by healthy employment growth and government demand. Lastly, we look forward to leveraging Charter Hall’s strong leasing capabilities to create more value-add.”

David Harrison, Charter Hall’s managing director and group CEO, said the strategic acquisition further strengthened Charter Hall’s 15-year relationship with GIC.

“We are also pleased to advance our relationship with the Australian government as a major tenant customer, and to further increase our exposure to Canberra’s growing office market,” he said.

The building is occupied by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment. Korea’s Mirae Asset Global Investments bought the building in 2017 for A$321m from Singapore’s CIMB Trust Capital.

It is Charter Hall’s third purchase of a Canberra office building this year, having previously bought the Services Australia building for A$306m and the Doris Blackburn building for A$99m.