Frasers Centrepoint Limited (FCL) has made a A$2.6 billion (S$3.03 billion) bid to takeover Australian developer Australand Property.
If it goes through, this will be one of the biggest acquisitions by a Singapore real estate company in recent years.
The acquisition would give FCL control of Australand’s A$2.4 billion portfolio of office and industrial properties and A$9.3 billion of developments in Australia, where FCL is currently building a 2000-apartment project in central Sydney called Central Park.
This bid comes amid a challenging property market in Singapore, due to a series of government cooling measures.
On the other hand, the Australian economy shows no signs of slowing down, beating expectations as the GDP rose 3.5% year-on-year in Q1 this year.
A 4.8% surge in exports, along with a 4.7% increase in home-building contributed to the fastest growth that Australia has seen in 2 years.
This supports FCL’s strategy to drive growth in Australia, as the macro-fundamentals of the economy support its long-term housing demand.
It is also worth noting that home prices there rose by about 10% last year.
Many other regional developers such as Malaysia’s S P Setia and China’s Fuxing Huiyu Real Estate and Greenland Group are also developing high-rise buildings in Sydney and Melbourne.
The proposed bid will be considered by Stockland and is subject to the approval of Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board and the backing of FCL shareholders.
Here are some investment properties in Australia:
Marina Tower Melbourne
Eporo Tower Melbourne
Illura Melbourne
Nord Melbourne
Cinque Melbourne
38 High Street, Toowong Brisbane