Australian superannuation fund Aware Super has entered the UK’s Build to Rent (BTR) market by purchasing Qatari Diar’s 22% stake in Get Living, a developer and operator of large scale BTR neighbourhoods.
Financial details were not disclosed.
Subject to final contract completion, Aware Super will join existing investors APG and DOOR (a residential investment vehicle comprising investment from Delancey client funds, Oxford Properties, Alecta, Allianz and LPPI) which each control a 39% stake.
Aware Super senior portfolio manager property Alek Misev said: 'As Australia’s leading investor in the BTR and affordable housing market, Aware Super is excited to partner with Get Living, a market-leading and award-winning BTR platform with a 5 Star GRESB rating for its existing assets. Together, we can build a solid foundation to ensure the UK's BTR housing market meets the growing demand.
'Most importantly, this investment will also offer our 1.1 million members strong, risk-adjusted returns and diversification benefits in a key-strategic region for Aware Super, within a sector that has shown strong resilience during economic downturns, and attractive long-term macroeconomic and demographic fundamentals.'
Outgoing investor Qatari Diar has played a key role in Get Living’s growth, as a founding investor when Get Living launched in 2013 to operate 1,500 homes in the former Olympic Village in Stratford, the UK’s first large scale rental neighbourhood.
Today Get Living’s circa £3 bn (€3.4 bn) portfolio spans 4,000 operational homes across three neighbourhoods in East Village and Elephant Central in London, and New Maker Yards in Manchester, alongside 6,500 homes in the secured development pipeline. Get Living’s newest large neighbourhood of 650 homes launches in Lewisham towards the end of 2023.
Said Tariq Al Abdulla, chief development & project delivery pfficer (Europe & America), at Qatari Diar: 'After purchasing the former Athletes’ Village after the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Qatari Diar established East Village and the Get Living Platform in 2013 in partnership with Delancey client funds.
'Over the ten years we have been proud to be a founding partner of the Business, always committed to its growing success and its pre-eminence within the BTR sector.
'We are very confident that Aware Super are well-positioned to seamlessly continue the success of Get Living and help drive its ambitious vision. We look forward to seeing the business evolve further with Aware Super as an investor.'
Over the last two years, new neighbourhoods have been secured in Birmingham, Maidenhead and Leatherhead, all of which are currently under construction, extending Get Living’s reach across the UK. These are in addition to the major mixed-use redevelopment of Elephant and Castle Town Centre, which received a £365 mln development loan early in 2022 to kickstart construction.
Meanwhile, future growth plans include further phases of development at East Village and consent has recently been secured for a new neighbourhood in Glasgow.
Research from Savills and the British Property Federation, supported by Get Living, estimates that the number of Build to Rent homes could more than quadruple to 380,000 by 2032, with the sector estimated to be worth £170 bn, as BTR becomes an integral part of UK housing delivery and economic growth.
Rick De Blaby, CEO of Get Living commented: 'In Aware Super, we are extremely privileged to have a long-term, purpose-driven and mature investor, and I look forward to working closely with their team, as they join our other valued investors in APG and DOOR. Aware Super’s backing of Get Living is a huge vote of confidence in our business, which gives us real firepower to drive ambitious growth plans, in service to all our investors.'
Lazard acted as Qatari Diar’s financial advisor, and CMS as legal advisor. Savills Capital Advisors acted as Aware’s financial advisor and Hogan Lovells as their legal advisor. Simmons & Simmons and Jones Day acted as legal advisors to APG and DOOR respectively.
