In just six years, Nick Collishaw and Ben Hindmarsh have built Lincoln Place into one of the fastest-growing land lease operators, with 24 lifestyle communities across NSW, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT, housing 2,000 residents and a pipeline of around 4,500 dwellings.
Backed by New York-based private equity giant Cerberus Capital Management, Lincoln Place has hired Goldman Sachs to weigh its strategic options – including an ASX listing or sale to a trade buyer or private equity investor – with expectations it could fetch $800 million to $1 billion, according to the Australian Financial Review.
The sale plans are buoyed by strong investor appetite for the sector. GemLife’s July IPO – the largest of the year – and Ingenia Communities’ ongoing performance are setting the benchmark, both trading on trailing EBITDA multiples of more than 20 times. GemLife shares have already climbed about 10% since listing, equating to a 17x price-to-earnings multiple.
Sources told the AFR the process could begin “by the end of the year at the earliest,” with Goldman’s pitch to potential buyers expected to highlight Lincoln Place’s experienced management team, led by CEO Paul Yeo, as well as the industry’s tailwinds: chronic housing undersupply and heavyweight investors including Macquarie Asset Management, the Lowy Family Group, Stockland and Mirvac moving into the space.
