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Australia/UK: AustralianSuper, Australia’s largest superannuation fund, has announced the creation of a new UK Living platform, with an initial £500 million (A$1.1 billion) of investment.
The new platform will target investments in the UK living sector, with a strong pipeline of opportunities and the ambition to deploy funds at scale over the next 12 months. The platform aims to become one of the top five operators of rental homes in the UK within five years.
The platform seeks to create institutional-grade living accommodation encompassing student, coliving and residential homes, and builds on the fund’s experience investing in housing globally.
The platform’s first investment is a student housing development in Bristol, with contractors on site and a target completion in 2027. The platform is actively assessing opportunities across the UK, with a disciplined focus on quality locations in high-demand urban centres and anchored by top research-led universities and high growth industries.
Damian Moloney, deputy chief investment officer at AustralianSuper, said: “Today’s announcement demonstrates the continued attractiveness of the UK as a global investment destination, with AustralianSuper on track to deploy more than £8 billion of new capital into the country by 2030.With ambitious plans to scale, our new living sector platform is a clear demonstration of the Fund’s mature, international investment capabilities and complements our existing sectoral exposure across AustralianSuper’s global Real Assets portfolio. Establishing this platform is a significant milestone for AustralianSuper. It’s a great example of the ways the Fund can contribute to economic growth in the UK, while generating returns for our 3.5 million members.”
The new platform will be headed up by CEO Tim Butler, previously founder and co-investor of Student Roost and one of the founding shareholders and main board director of Unite Group plc.
Highlights:
• AustralianSuper, Australia’s largest superannuation fund, has announced the creation of a new UK Living platform, with an initial £500 million (A$1.1 billion) of investment
• The new platform will target investments in the UK living sector, with a strong pipeline of opportunities and the ambition to deploy funds at scale over the next 12 months
• It will be headed up by CEO Tim Butler, previously founder and co-investor of Student Roost and one of the founding shareholders and main board director of Unite Group plc
