Singapore’s GIC has bought a 25% stake in the Chevron House office development project in Perth, Australia.

The deal with Brookfield is believed to be for around A$220m (€128m).

Brookfield bought the site with Swan River frontage from Chevron in 2019 under an agreement to develop a 29-level-office tower and a retail component. The project, located at Elizabeth Quay is due for completion in 2023.

Chevron Australia will anchor the building on a 15-year lease, occupying around 75% of the 55,000sqm available.

GIC will now co-own the building with US-based Invesco, which bought a 50% stake for A$400m in a transaction closed a year ago. Brookfield holds the remaining 25%.

Ruban Kaneshamoorthy, Brookfield’s head of investments - real estate, told IPE Real Assets: “The transaction shows resilient demand for the Perth office market and reflects another example of Brookfield creating value by bringing de-risked development opportunities to our investors and strategic capital partners.”

An industry source told IPE Real Assets: “Investors like GIC and Invesco have bought into Perth’s best building, with a securely-structured long-term lease. Chevron is engaged in production of liquidified natural gas, a commodity that is in demand.”

The source said that the deal reflected GIC’s confidence in the Perth office market, especially in the premium end of the market. “Perth has a soft, but improving, rental market. In the lead-up to the COVID-19 pandemic, rents in Sydney doubled, but they remained subdued in Perth.”

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