GIC buys office in Brisbane for $281m

Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC has acquired the 41-story Santos Place tower in Brisbane, Australia, for A$370 million ($281 million), according to a report by the Australian Financial Review.

The seller of the 380,988-square-foot office tower was Malaysian fund management company Permodalan Nasional Berhad.

The property serves as the headquarters of Aussie oil and gas producer Santos.

In March 2017 it was reported GIC announced its intention to invest close to A$1 billion ($760 million) into the Brisbane and Perth office markets. GIC will be targeting core and core-plus office buildings. And GIC mandated listed funds management giant Charter Hall and Perth-based Primewest will act as their domestic asset managers.

The sovereign fund has been active in other Australian commercial real estate sectors this year.

In November, GIC and Australian property group Vicinity Centers agreed to undertake a property swap. Vicinity will exchange a 49 percent stake in Chatswood Chase Sydney mall worth A$562.3 million ($427.9 million), for a 50 percent stake in GIC’s Queen Victoria Building, The Galeries and The Strand Arcade (known as the Sydney CBD Centres), worth A$556 million ($423 million).

And in September, GIC finalized a deal for the purchase of an office complex on William Street in Brisbane for about A$175 million ($133 million).

In April, GIC made its third major student housing investment of 2017, paying A$400 million ($302 million) to purchase a pair of Sydney student blocks from Frasers Property Australia and Japan’s Sekisui House.