This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
ALTERNATIVE assets manager Barwon Investment Partners has outlaid $124 million in acquiring three assets in Queensland and NSW for its healthcare property fund.
The biggest of the trio of purchases for the Barwon Institutional Healthcare Property Fund is a day surgery at 87 Ipswich Road in inner Brisbane’s Buranda, a part of Woolloongabba, to be anchored by the Queensland Eye Institute. The $72 million acquisition is due to be finalised in October, and follows the fund’s purchase last year of the PA Central car park at 250 Ipswich Road, opposite the Princess Alexandra Hospital, in a deal that came in at between $90 million and $100 million.
In Ipswich, the fund has paid $14 million for a recently refurbished building wholly leased to disability care provider Neta Care and with a weighted average lease expiry of 9.3 years, while the third deal is the $38 million purchase of the Mons Road Medical Centre in Westmead, western Sydney.
Positioned next to the Westmead Private Hospital, the 2,900 sqm centre has 60 car parks and is anchored by Sonic Healthcare’s diagnostic imaging business Castlereagh Imagine, and is also tenanted by IVF Australia, among several others.
“This acquisition represents an exceptional opportunity to build on our existing exposure to Sonic Healthcare, a leader in the healthcare industry, while establishing our presence within the highly sought-after Westmead health precinct,” said Marwon head of healthcare property, Tom Patrick.
“Healthcare real estate is holding up well through the cycle in comparison to traditional commercial property sectors such as office and retail, and we see continued interest from domestic and international investors for the sector, despite the current interest rate environment.”
“As we had expected, we have seen a modest softening of cap rates in the healthcare sector, but healthcare’s defensive attributes are showing, and we continue to be able to achieve steady rental growth across our portfolios.
“Once the inflation cycle shows signs of stabilising, we expect that there will be strong demand for exposure to this asset class, which we are well-positioned to provide to investors.”
The acquisitions take the fund’s portfolio to 29 assets worth over $1.4 billion. Barwon said it planning a strategic capital raise of more than $300 million over the next year to support further growth.