Hillhouse Investment has acquired a majority interest in Barwon Investment Partners, an Australian specialist investor in healthcare real estate, real estate credit and private markets.
The asset manager is making the investment through its real assets arm, Rava Partners.
Established two decades ago, Sydney-based Barwon manages A$3bn (€1.8bn) in assets and intends to expand its capacity to originate, invest and scale across existing strategies.
Barwon is Hillhouse’s second significant investment in Australia in less than a year. In a deal valued at more than AS$600m late last year, Hillhouse acquired the majority stake in Australia’s largest student housing operator, Unilodge.
Joseph Gagnon, Hillhouse partner and co-head of Rava Partners said: “This investment reflects Hillhouse’s global strategy of partnering with leading management teams to build and scale real asset platforms in markets where we see long-term opportunity.
“Australia is an important market within our Asia-Pacific portfolio, and Barwon provides a compelling opportunity to expand our footprint. We are focused on supporting the business to grow,” said Gagnon.
Harsh Narang, Rava Partners’ managing director, said: “Barwon is a high-quality business with strong momentum and a clear growth trajectory.
“We see meaningful opportunities to support the team in delivering further on existing strategies and helping them to become a market leading manager in their chosen real estate sectors.”
The transaction remains subject to Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board approval and other customary and regulatory conditions.
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