At least four land lease operators’ have reportedly lodged first-rounds bids for Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC’s 50% stake in one of the country's leading land lease operators Serenitas.
Land lease operators Hometown Australia, Ingenia Communities and Stockland, plus Canadian investment fund Brookfield, the owner of Aveo, have made bids, according to a report in The Australian.
GIC is believed to be seeking a price of at least $800 million for Serenitas, which owns and operates 22 LLCs, with brands Thyme Lifestyle Resorts, National Lifestyle Villages, Latitude 25 RV Lifestyle Community, The Outlook at Albany, Vantage at Vasse, and RV Homebase Fraser Coast.
Serenitas Founder and CEO Rob Nichols (pictured) has new communities being built at Forster on the NSW Mid North Coast, and Canungra in QLD’s Scenic Rim Region. It was only in August, Rob told The Weekly SOURCE that demand is so hot he could not build his LLCs “quickly enough”.
Serenitas was formed when GIC and Tasman Capital Partners purchased Western Australia-based National Lifestyle Villages in 2018 from Navis Capital and Blackstone. The business is jointly owned by the parties. Nichols is the former COO of listed modulated housing provider Gateway Lifestyle, which was bought in 2018 by US-based Hometown America for $685m or $942m including debt.
On Friday, Anglicare Sydney and LDK announced the Not for Profit had paid $20 million for real estate investment property company Cromwell’s 50% stake in the continuum of care business founded by Paul Browne, who Is a director. LDK, which is four years old, was valued at $260 million.
Infratil, 50% owner of the nation’s fifth biggest retirement village operator RetireAustralia, will make an announcement if anyone has matched its price for their stake, believed to be around $1 billion, within weeks. Mutual company Australian Unity and ASX-listed Lendlease (accessing cash from Aware Super and Dutch pension fund APG) are reported to be the front runners.
