This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
SINGAPORE’S CapitaLand Investment is expanding into Australia’s burgeoning non-bank lending and private real estate credit sector with the acquisition of Wingate for $200 million.
The acquisition is part of CLI’s $1 billion commitment to grow its business in Australia. Wingate is one of Australia’s largest private credit investment managers, having executed more than 350 transactions worth more than $20 billion.
“We are excited to welcome Wingate into CLI’s global ecosystem. The senior team, led by Wingate’s founder Farrel Meltzer, has built Wingate into a leading Australian credit platform,” CLI group financial officer Paul Tham said.
“It has an outstanding track record, and is ideally positioned for growth by leveraging its extensive relationships with developers and corporates across Australia.
“Wingate’s private credit capabilities complement CLI’s own private funds platform, and will enable us to collaborate to create greater value for our capital partners in Australia and beyond. We see scalable private credit opportunities in other Asia Pacific markets, most notably in South Korea, India and Japan,” he added.
The addition of Wingate A$2.5 billion funds under management will boost CLI’s Australia FUM by over 30% to S$8.3 billion, contributing 7% to its total FUM, and increasing its global FUM to S$115 billion, bringing it closer to its S$200 billion FUM target by 2028.
“As we accelerate our geographical diversification efforts, Australia is one of CLI’s focus markets where we see significant potential for growth. Australia will play a greater role in contributing to CLI’s funds under management as we strive towards our S$200 billion FUM target in 2028. CLI has committed to invest up to A$1 billion (about S$878 million) to grow our FUM in the country. As we strengthen our position as a leading global real asset manager, we will continue to seek opportunities to scale our Australian presence through our listed funds, private funds as well as our commercial and lodging management businesses to drive fee income growth for CLI,” Tham continued.
CLI’s expansion in Australia comes as over 70% of developers, investors, fund managers and brokers chose private credit over major banks. The inaugural Centuria Bass Australian Property Development and Finance Index 2024 found a further 95% agreed that the higher cost of non-bank lending is offset by the advantages – namely decisions being made faster, followed by generally higher loan-to-value ratios and flexible terms.
Meanwhile the Australian private capital market has grown by 33% over the past 18 months with assets under management reaching $139 billion as at April 2024.
CLI joins the growing list of global players entering the market, including Warburg Pincus’s $490 million investment in MA Financial’s $1 billion Real Estate Credit Vehicle and PGIM Real Estate.
David Di Pilla’s HMC Capital, with ambitions to build a $5 billion private credit platform, acquired Payton Capital earlier this year in a $127.5 million deal, while $12.2 billion specialist alternative investment manager Regal Partners acquired Adrian Redlich’s commercial real estate lending business Merricks Capital for $235 million.
Centuria Bass – which has grown to circa $2 billion in funds under management – recently secured a new circa-$150 million warehouse facility with an initial $100 million backing from global investment bank UBS, and Centuria increased its interest in Centuria Bass in April to 80% for a consideration of $57 million.
Other large players include Qualitas with $8.9 billion in FUM and MaxCap Group, which has more than $8 billion.
Wingate’s incoming managing director Nick Jacobson said the company is delighted to work with CLI to provide co-investors and borrowers with enhanced access to highly attractive investment opportunities across CLI’s global platform.
“The growth of Wingate with the backing of CLI is a truly industry-transforming prospect for what can be delivered to local and global institutional investors. The combination of Wingate and CLI will further strengthen Wingate’s market standing as a leader in Australian real estate private credit and to becoming the fund manager of choice for institutional investors seeking exposure to the stable and attractive Australian real estate sector,” said Jacobson.
The acquisition of Wingate will further diversify CLI’s portfolio in Australia, which includes 34 logistics properties and business parks and four office buildings in the country as well as over 13,500 lodging units across more than 150 properties under its wholly owned lodging business unit, The Ascott Limited.
