Savills IM continues Australia focus with core investments

The firm used capital from its Asia Pacific core/core-plus fund to invest A$90m in assets in Perth and Brisbane.

Savills Investment Management, the real estate investment management business of the London-listed property services firm Savills, has completed its first Australian acquisitions of close to A$90 million ($68 million; €63 million) for its pan-Asian fund – Savills IM Asia Pacific Fund in Perth and Brisbane.

The announcement of the investments comes a week after the firm made another hire to its Sydney, Australia office. Annie Li, formerly of GE Capital Real Estate, joined as associate director and portfolio manager to work closely with Lee Tredwell, who was appointed head of investments in January, to manage existing investments and help grow Savills IM’s Australian platform.

Savills IM acquired Quest East Perth, a newly-built 4-star serviced apartment hotel located within Perth’s central business district and The Station Oxley, a shopping center in Brisbane.

“Both Brisbane and Perth are well established capital city markets with high levels of institutional investment. The characteristics of the assets themselves being modern, high occupancy with long WALEs made them suitable for our core/core+ mandate,” said Tredwell.

“These assets fit perfectly into the strategy of our fund which targets modern, high occupancy, low-risk assets suitable for long-term investment in markets across Asia Pacific that exhibit potential for future growth.”

The deals were capitalized through the firm’s open-ended, pan-Asian, core/core-plus fund – Savills IM Asia Pacific Fund. The vehicle has assets under management of around A$300 million with assets in Singapore and Japan as well as now Australia. The fund was set up in 2012 and previously named SEB Asia REI.

Savills IM, which currently manages approximately €17 billion of assets, acquired the fund’s former manager – Europe and Asia-focused SEB Asset Management – for up to €21.5 million in cash last year. The deal for the Frankfurt-headquartered firm bolstered Savills IM’s team by 148 employees in Europe and in its Asia office in Singapore.