Australia: Ivanhoe Cambridge, the property arm of Canada’s second-biggest pension fund, has invested $1 billion AUD into Australia’s largest student accommodation fund, which is managed by Scape.
Called the Scape Core Program, the fund currently manages a portfolio of 27 rental residential buildings and 13,000 rooms for students, predominantly in Sydney and Melbourne.
Ivanhoe manages a $79 billion global portfolio. It is the real estate arm of pension fund Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec.
“We are pleased to enter into this new strategic partnership with Scape in the Australian student housing sector. This investment allows us to participate in the institutionalisation of the living sector in APAC and support the provision of well-managed, high-quality housing for students,” said George Agethen, co-head of Asia-Pacific at Ivanhoe Cambridge.
“The exposure to the Scape Core Program will diversify our APAC portfolio with defensive cashflows that are driven by the favourable demographics in the region and the demand for quality education in Australia,” he added
The investment announcement comes just four months after the return of international students in Australia peaked in June with visa applications hitting a record high, following the reopening of borders to inbound travellers in February.
“We are excited to welcome Ivanhoe Cambridge as another high-calibre global investor to our platform. This comes at a very exciting time with high international student enrolments and a recovery of the PBSA sector as education remains a centrepiece of Australia’s global services exports,” said Stephen Gaitanos, CEO and managing director, Scape Australia Group.
“Together with recent aggregations in Australia we expect to see more consolidation and growth opportunity both in the student accommodation market and the residential for rent sector more broadly,” he added.
