For more than 30 years, Lendlease has been at the forefront of the Australian retirement living sector. It has owned and operated 75 villages with more than 13,000 homes.
In 2017, it sold 25% of Lendlease Retirement to Dutch pension fund APG for $450 million. Four years later, it sold another 25% to Sydney-based Aware Super for around $420 million, and another 24.9% for $490 million to Aware Super in April last year.
That leaves Lendlease with 25.1% of its own brand, now known as Retirement Living by Lendlease, boasting the second largest number of villages in Australia.
Lendlease CEO Tony Lombardo is under intense pressure to sell the remaining 25.1% of Retirement Living by Lendlease and this has been heightened after a fund run by the ASX-listed HMC Capital bought a near 3% stake in Lendlease.
HMC, whose Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer is David Di Pilla, wants a more simplified Lendlease, which means selling non-core assets like its retirement living business.
Investors Tanarra Capital and Allan Gray have already been highly critical of Lendlease’s involvement in the retirement living sector and Lombardo is under pressure 21 months into a five-year turnaround plan.
The future looks grim for a mainstay of Australia’s retirement living sector.
