This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
DEXUS has again upped its exposure to the healthcare sector across its platform, with its Healthcare Property Fund (DHPF) acquiring a 100% interest in a fund-through development for Bethesda Health Care’s mental health clinic in Perth.
The Bethesda Clinic in Cockburn Central West has been designed and will be delivered by Bethesda, and have an on-completion value of about $58.3 million.
It will commence an initial 20-year lease term to operate a private mental health facility from completion, which is expected in late 2022.
Stage one of the development will comprise a 45-bed mental health clinic with outpatient services, with an option for Bethesda to further develop a second stage, the final configuration of which will be worked through in the coming months.
“This acquisition will deliver another premium asset for DHPF, and it is pleasing to see an asset contributing to satisfying the high demand for purpose built mental health facilities,” Dexus executive general manager, funds management, Deborah Coakley said.
“This acquisition is in line with our strategy to support investor demand for high quality, diversified healthcare assets, taking DHPF’s portfolio to over $1.3 billion.”
The deal marks a new tenant for the Dexus platform.
Bethesda Health Care chief executive officer, Dr Neale Fong, said there is a significant undersupply of mental health beds south of Perth and in WA’s southern regions.
“The clinic is a new service offering for Bethesda that will alleviate current pressures on the system by offering private inpatient and community care closer to home.”
DHPF last month paid $138.7 million for 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, while last year it bought into the Australian Bragg Centre in Adelaide in a $446.2 million deal and bought College Junction in Brisbane.
Meanwhile, marketing continues for the 100-bed Perth Clinic, on the corner of Havelock and Ord streets in West Perth, which generates about $2 million in rent each year and is being offered with a weighted average lease expiry of 11.6 years.
The healthcare sector has become increasingly popular for investors. Home Consortium recently acquired a trio of medical and healthcare assets on the eastern seaboard, taking seed assets for its HealthCo fund to $480 million with plans for an ASX-listed spin-off trust.
Centuria Healthcare will build a new $64 million private hospital in Melbourne’s inner-east after striking an agreement with a doctor-led joint venture with insurer Medibank, and Elanor has made multiple healthcare asset acquisitions in Brisbane and Perth.
