GIC is believed to be looking to acquire an Australian retirement village owner, National Lifestyle Villages, owned by Blackstone.
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund is understood to be attracted by the asset’s steady income stream, estimated at about AUD200m (€135m) annually.
GIC recently purchased Yes Communities in the US for $2bn (€1.8bn).
The investor is expected to run into a number of competitors interested in Australia’s growing yet highly fragmented retirement living sector.
If the deal completes, GIC will be the second sovereign wealth fund to enter the sector, which, until recently, was seen as a cottage industry.
New Zealand’s sovereign wealth fund, the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, and the country’s listed asset manager, Infratil, paid AUD640m in December 2014 to acquire Retire Australia from joint owners Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan.
Blackstone is among a wave of investors that, in late 2014, formed a partnership with National Lifestyle Villages, a retirement park developer based in Western Australia, with plans to inject AUD150m to expand the operation.
It is thought Blackstone has no plans to sell the investment but is fielding approaches from interested buyers.
Blackstone has a reputation for recycling assets – at the right price – and has already traded several assets while it continues to increase its overall exposure to Australian real estate.
Buyers are looking at Australia’s demographics and the growth potential in a retirement living industry, which, in 2010, was estimated to be worth around $50bn.
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