Brisbane investment manager GreenFort Capital is expected to become one of the country’s largest Build to Rent players after striking a deal with Canadian-backed real estate house BentallGreenOak and Swiss-based private equity firm Partners Group. The deal aims to grow local business.
GreenFort Capital will acquire and develop a pipeline of Build to Rent residential projects across Australia and are looking at an initial 1,200 to 1,500 apartments. GreenFort will fund the deals and develop the business with the backing of its partners.
The project will target the east coast of Australia, including Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The portfolio first asset is a 30-level, 364 apartment development at 2 Cordelia Street, South Brisbane.
The South Brisbane site was acquired by the venture in early 2021. The acquisition represents BentallGreenOak’s first investment in Australia, an important move for the group, which manages $97bn in assets. Partners already maintains a local presence in Australia and has managed $U25bn in private real estate.
Assets will be managed by specialist operating business Canvas, set up by GreenFort Partners Adam Vaggelas and Nick Singleton. Adam believes that Australia’s low housing vacancy rates, limited new apartment supply, and lack of institutional grade residential stock presented a significant opportunity for the Build to Rent sector.
“Australia has one of the highest rates of urbanisation and population growth, and one of the lowest residential vacancy rates in the developed world.”
Adam Vaggelas, Partner, GreenFort
Adam says these trends, along with increasing housing affordability constraints, created a compelling opportunity to deliver quality managed apartment stock to urban locations.
