Australia’s Industry Superannuation Property Trust (ISPT) will be the owner of the Blackstone stake in Westpac Place.
IPE Real Assets has confirmed ISPT’s involvement with sources close to the fund manager.
As reported earlier, Australia property group Mirvac has exercised its pre-emptive right to buy half of Westpac Place, a Sydney office complex, from Blackstone for AUD721.9m (€469.3m).
Mirvac said it intends to assign its right to an existing partner as permitted transferee under the unit sale agreement.
Sources believe that ISPT has two options with Westpac Place.
It is likely that, given the size of the asset, ISPT may create a special vehicle for it – in line with the AUD600m single asset vehicle, 50 Lonsdale Street Property Trust, a special purpose vehicle created to develop and manage one of Melbourne’s prime office buildings.
Alternatively, it may choose to house the asset under its flagship ISPT Core Fund, which is currently valued at around AUD12.7bn.
ISPT’s CEO Daryl Browning declined a request for comment.
ISPT, which owns a diversified Australian portfolio, valued at more than AUD15bn, also holds a 50% interest in Mirvac’s office asset, 2 Riverside Quay in Melbourne.
Its most recent partnership with Mirvac was in December when it bought half a stake in Kawana Shoppingworld on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast for AUD186m.
Melbourne-based ISPT was co-founded in 1994 by AustralianSuper, Cbus and HESTA and now ISPT now has 31 institutional Investors invested in various funds.
