Ivanhoé Cambridge and a Blackstone fund have teamed up to make their first investments in Sydney, buying a 25% stake in a core office property.
The Canadian institution said it had entered into a partnership with Blackstone Property Partners Asia to buy the interest in Liberty Place for AUD240m (€171m).
The 42-storey tower was sold by LaSalle Investment Management.
“We are enthusiastic about the opportunity to invest in Australian real estate”, said Rita-Rose Gagné, executive vice president of growth markets at Ivanhoé Cambridge.
The investor will look to increase its investment in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region this year, she said.
The deal is Blackstone’s first in Asia for its Property Partners core-plus strategy.
Christopher Heady, senior managing director and head of real estate Asia at Blackstone, said Liberty Place fits the firm’s core-plus strategy ”extremely well as a high quality, well-leased asset in a global gateway city”.
Completed in 2013, the asset is 97% let. Around 60,000sqm of the building consists of offices and 4,425sqm retail.
