This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
DEXUS has added to its exposure to the healthcare property sector by taking a $180 million cornerstone investment in Australian Unity’s $320 million raising for its healthcare property trust.
As part of the deal, Dexus will also have a first right over the Australian Unity management platform for the unlisted Australian Unity Healthcare Property Trust (AUHPT), should Australian Unity decides to sell an interest in the platform. This component of the agreement will likely thwart Canadian group NorthWest Healthcare Properties’ hopes to acquire the fund, having made a third takeover offer of $2.7 billion late last months after previous bids were rejected.
Dexus said its new healthcare platform relationship with Australian Unity regarding the fund also includes opportunities to invest in certain aspects of Australian Unity’s healthcare development pipeline.
“The establishment of this relationship and investment in AUHPT is consistent with Dexus’s focus on increasing the resilience of its investment portfolio income streams and enhances Dexus’s ability to obtain further scale in the increasingly attractive healthcare property sector,” it said.
AUHPT comprises a scale portfolio of Australian hospital and healthcare properties valued at $2.33 billion and consisting of 67 properties including the recently completed Surgical, Treatment & Rehabilitation Service (STARS) a 182-bed public hospital at Herston in Queensland. It has a development pipeline of $1 billion of greenfield and brownfield opportunities.
The fund has delivered a strong total return to unitholders of 25.1% over the past 12 months and 14.9% per annum over the past five years.
Dexus has also provided AUHPT a first right to acquire a 25% indirect interest in the Australian Bragg Centre (on market-based terms). Dexus acquired the Adelaide facility last year for $446.2 million.
“We are confident in the outlook for healthcare real estate and the investment in AUHPT provides us with an efficient way to increase our exposure to this attractive asset class at an appealing price,” Dexus CEO Darren Steinberg said.
“The broader relationship with Australian Unity provides an opportunity for us to accelerate our growing footprint in healthcare real estate and provides our funds and third party partners with additional investment opportunities.”
Dexus said it believes the subscription price of $2.60 per unit represents good value, “based on the high-quality nature of the assets and strong investor demand for healthcare real estate”.
The establishment of the platform relationship and investment is expected to be accretive to its 2022 financial year adjusted funds from operations and distributions per security.
Dexus will continue to separately develop and grow the group’s healthcare exposure through the circa $1.1 billion Dexus Healthcare Property Fund (DHPF). Last week the fund acquired a 100% interest in a fund-through development for Bethesda Health Care’s mental health clinic in Perth.
That followed its $138.7 million purchase of the Manning Building and Building 4 at the Monash University Parkville Campus in Melbourne, home to the university’s Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science.
Its North Shore Health Hub in St Leonards was completed in April.
