Investa Commercial Property Fund and Manulife Acquire 39 Martin Place Sydney

Investa Commercial Property Fund (‘ICPF’ or ‘the Fund’) and international financial services group Manulife have announced, through a 50/50 joint venture, they have acquired the right to a 100% interest in 39 Martin Place, Sydney from Macquarie Group Limited (‘Macquarie’).

To be located in Martin Place, between Elizabeth and Castlereagh Street, the building will be situated in Sydney’s central business district. It will sit directly above the southern entrance of the new Martin Place metro station that is currently under construction and will incorporate 30,000 square metres of office space across 28 levels and 2,000 square metres of retail.

39 Martin Place is scheduled to reach practical completion in 2024 and will be located within the Martin Place integrated station development.

The much sought after precinct incorporates two office buildings, a Sydney Metro station and a retail precinct.

Offering premium-grade services and large floorplates, the building will boast market leading sustainability credentials including a 6 star Green Star, office design rating and 5.5 star NABERS rating.

ICPF Fund Manager, Brendan Looby said: “The acquisition of 39 Martin Place is in line with the Fund’s strategy given the superior building quality, super prime location, leading sustainability and technology features. We also have the opportunity to add value through leasing.

“This combination of factors is expected to deliver an attractive risk adjusted return to our investors, and further reinforces ICPF’s reputation as Australia’s leading prime office fund.”

On the leasing opportunity, Mr. Looby said: “We have high confidence in the Sydney CBD office market and believe 39 Martin Place is well placed to attract a suite of high quality users. We are pleased with the interest already shown by a number of prospective tenants attracted to the quality and premium location of 39 Martin Place, which will be loaded with amenity.”

ICPF’s partner is Manulife, a multinational insurance company and financial services provider, which has been actively investing and pursuing opportunities in Australia since 2017 via direct and indirect investments in the Australian office and logistics sector.

Kenny Lam, Senior Managing Director, Head of Asia Real Estate Investments for Manulife said: “We are very excited to partner with ICPF and team up with the best-in-class team from Investa on this landmark investment. 39 Martin Place will be a top grade office building in Sydney, equipped with one of the highest levels of technology and situated in a prime CBD locale giving unparalled access to a wide variety of public transport and facilities.

“Despite some of the headwinds resulting from the pandemic, we are continuing to focus our expansion efforts on the Asia Pacific region and high quality assets, which are supported by strong long term macro and demographic prospects.”

Investa’s Chief Investment Officer, Peter Menegazzo said: “We are delighted to welcome Manulife as an investment partner alongside ICPF in this landmark development and look forward to partnering with Macquarie and LendLease to deliver it.”

“The investment provides another opportunity for Investa to demonstrate its deep leasing capability, and reinforces our strong belief in the Martin Place precinct as a premium office location.”

The building is being constructed by LendLease and is due for completion in 2024. It is the latest investment for ICPF, following the recent completion of the highly acclaimed Sixty Martin Place development, delivered jointly by ICPF and Gwynvill.

The Fund’s portfolio of 15 office assets is valued at around $6 billion and is 94% occupied, with a weighted average lease expiry of about five years. ICPF is the top performing core fund on the MSCI/Mercer Australia Core Wholesale Property Fund Index over 2, 3, 5 and 7 year time horizons.

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we operate as Manulife across our offices in Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. We provide financial advice, insurance, and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2019, we had more than 35,000 employees, over 98,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving almost 30 million customers. As of September 30, 2020, we had $1.3 trillion (US$943 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made $31.2 billion in payments to our customers. Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 155 years. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.

About Manulife Investment Management’s Real Estate Platform

Manulife Investment Management's comprehensive private markets platform includes Real Estate, Private Equity and Credit, Infrastructure, Timber and Agriculture. Through its Real Estate group, Manulife Investment Management develops and manages commercial real estate for thousands of customers around the globe. Its portfolio includes millions of square feet of office, industrial, retail and multifamily space strategically located in major metropolitan markets. The Real Estate group leverages its vertically integrated platform to serve its customers as well as manage the space requirements and corporate-use facilities for Manulife’s global operations.

As at September 30, 2020, the Real Estate portfolio totaled over 63 million square feet. Additional information can be found at www.manulifeim.com/realestate.

About Investa Commercial Property Fund (ICPF)

ICPF is a core prime office fund for institutional investors which aims to optimise total returns with a low-risk investment approach, concentrating on Premium-grade office assets in the major Australian CBD markets. With ~ $6 billion in assets under management, ICPF is well-diversified by market, tenant and industry type, with an active capital management approach and a conservative gearing profile. The fund’s portfolio of 15 assets includes interests in some of Australia’s leading office buildings, including 60 Martin Place, Sydney, Deutsche Bank Place, 126 Phillip Street, Sydney, 420 George Street, Sydney and 120 Collins Street, Melbourne.

About Investa

Investa is a commercial real estate management and development service provider in the Australian office sector. With more than $12 billion in assets under management, we maximise the value of Australian workplaces for our tenants, investors and the community through our office management expertise and by consistently delivering a superior customer experience, while remaining an industry leader in sustainable building management and responsible property investment.