This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
INGENIA has continued divesting non-core assets to redeploy capital into its key development projects, selling off its Settlers Meadow Springs asset in Western Australia’s Mandurah, and two smaller communities in New South Wales.
It will give the retirement community and tourist park operator $17 million to put towards its development pipeline.
Settlers Meadow Springs was the group’s largest deferred management fee model asset, and is now in the hands of WA group Amana Living.
“Since divesting the majority of our DMF portfolio in October 2016, we have been focussed on continuing to reduce our exposure to this market segment,” chief executive officer, Simon Owen said.
He added that following the sale the group has a net investment remaining in two DMF communities of $5.6 million, representing less than 1% of the group’s assets.
The NSW assets are Chain Valley Bay and Lake Macquarie communities that Owen said had been actively developed since it acquired them, and “remain relatively small and limited expansion potential”.
“With opportunities to deploy the capital in key projects such as Latitude One (Anna Bay, NSW) and Plantations (Woolgoolga, NSW) we are continuing to grow our presence in NSW and expect to see our operating margins expand as these communities gain greater scale,” Owen said.
In October, the Sydney Western City Planning Panel rejected the group’s plan to develop a 247-home retirement village at its Avina caravan park in Vineyard, despite Hawkesbury City Council’s recommendation of approval for the project.
Australian Property Journal