This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
US investment manager Barings is acquiring $6 billion Sydney-based real estate platform Altis Property Partners.
Barings has over 200 investment professionals across 16 offices in nine countries and boasts a global investment portfolio of over $500 billion, including a real estate debt and equity of circa $69 billion that is focused on the US and Europe.
When the deal is finalised at the beginning of next month, Barings will have taken on 44 professionals from Altis, whose executive directors and staff will remain with the firm following the acquisition.
“We are pleased to join Barings, a company with a similar team-based approach, culture and investment philosophy,” Altis executive director, Alastair Wright said.
Altis’ $6 billion property portfolio is mostly made up of office, industrial and residential assets. Amongst its recent activity is partnering with Aware Super on their new local property platform, following the partners buying the former Bayview on the Park Hotel site and a site in Melbourne’s north for build-to-rent projects. Late in 2020, Altis teamed up with Frasers Property Industrial to buy 118 hectares of land in western Sydney for a $1 billion logistics precinct.
“We’re excited to welcome Altis to our real estate platform as we strengthen our local investment capabilities in Australia and continue to expand our footprint in the region,” Mike Freno, Barings chairman and CEO said.
“Asia Pacific makes up approximately a third of Barings’ third-party AUM and is expected to be a key driver of growth for us. Barings has successfully led private credit and real estate debt investments in Australia and we’re confident Altis will help us broaden our investment capabilities in the region.”
Charles Weeks, Barings head of Europe and APAC real estate, said the acquisition will help further build out Barings’ real estate platform in the Asia Pacific, with a focus on Australia before expanding into other markets such as Japan and Korea over time.”
