This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
ALTERNATIVE real estate investment manager Qualitas has secured a $700 million mandate to invest in Australian commercial real estate from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).
The commitment for a new fully discretionary mandate from a wholly owned subsidiary of ADIA, will see hundreds of millions invested into CRE private credit opportunities on behalf of a new investment vehicle.
“I am proud that such a well-regarded leading global institutional investor has chosen Qualitas for this significant mandate and has backed its belief in our business with options to acquire a meaningful stake in Qualitas,” said Andrew Schwartz, group managing director and co-founder at Qualitas.
Qualitas has granted options to ADIA to acquire up to 32,630,374 new ordinary shares in Qualitas, which represents up to 9.99% of current issued on equity on a fully diluted basis.
“We believe this decision is testament to the expertise and quality of Qualitas’ in-house origination, credit assessment and asset management skills in the Australian CRE private credit market,” added Schwartz.
ADIA will be eligible for the Maximum Equity Interest if it commits to further incremental mandates totalling $1 billion, on top on the $700 million it has already committed to.
“Should the options be exercised, the additional capital raised will continue to strengthen our balance sheet providing additional capacity for Qualitas to warehouse opportunities and co-invest with our fund investors in line with growth in underlying FUM,” said Schwartz.
This mandate will increase Qualitas’ total committed funds under management to around $5 billion, with 74% of total FUM focused on CRE credit and 26% on equity opportunities.
“This mandate highlights the benefits of Qualitas’ scalable platform and solidifies our position as a trusted Australian alternative real estate investment manager benefitting from robust relationships with global institutional investors, strong balance sheet capacity, and a market leading, best-in-class investment and operational team,” concluded Schwartz.
This latest announcement follows Qualitas and joint investment partner TOGA Group, getting the go ahead for their “The Kensington” mixed-use residential development in Randwick Council’s Kensington to Kingsford revitalisation corridor.
