GemLife’s bankers, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Highbury Partnership, took about two dozen fund managers through four communities in Queensland on Monday and Tuesday last week, ahead of a non-deal roadshow planned for Asia this week.
The business, owned by the Puljich family and Thakral Capital, the Australian subsidiary of Thakral Corporation, a Singapore-listed company, looks increasingly likely to become a public company.
If it goes ahead, the IPO will be one of only two this financial year, with Estia Health's owner, Bain Capital, planning to relist Virgin Australia as the other.
Australian Financial Review sources said GemLife is preparing to mail out preliminary financials to prospective IPO (Initial Public Offering) backers within days. The operator is said to be hoping to sneak in a June bookbuild for a July float, although a final decision – including on the float timeline or pricing – is yet to be made.
GemLife is being pitched as Australia’s largest privately owned land lease developer, owner and operator, with nearly 10,000 homes at 30-plus communities across Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia. Managing Director and CEO Adrian Puljich, who privately owns pocket park land lease community operator Aliria, first tested buyer appetite in 2022. Despite interest from the country’s largest superannuation fund AustralianSuper, no deal eventuated.
GemLife has reportedly told fund managers to consider a $700 million-plus raising at a circa $2 billion valuation that could launch in the coming weeks, with comparisons to ASX-listed Ingenia Communities, which trades at about 16-times price-to-earnings ratio and a $2.34 billion capitalisation. Ingenia also owns and operates holiday parks.
Ingenia Communities CEO John Carfi, who started his role in April last year, has instigated a five-year growth plan aimed at boosting settlement volumes by 10-15% a year. In February, a total of 258 new land lease home settlements were achieved in the 1H25, up 47% on 1H24, with the average sale price and development margin increasing, Ingenia announced.
Lifestyle Communities is currently the only listed pure play land lease business. Operating only in Victoria, the company has been trading at more than 20-times price-to-earnings ratio and has a market capitalisation of $889 million, having been badly impacted by the ABC news program 7.30.
Thakral Corp revealed in March that GemLife is on track to deliver 6,500 new homes by 2033.
“The group’s over 50s lifestyle resorts venture saw strong demand and sales as it settled 355 homes in 2024 and attained 1,804 homes occupied,” said Thakral.
ADRIAN PULJICH AT THE 2025 LEADERS SUMMIT
LESSONS IN LAND LEASE COMMUNITIES
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