Canadian fund enters Australian market

Canadian fund enters Australian marketCanadian fund manager Ivanhoé Cambridge has made its first foray into Australia’s property market with a share of Sydney CBD office building.Ivanhoé Cambridge has partnered with Blackstone Property Partners Asia to buy a 25 per cent stake in Liberty Place, a 42-storey office and retail tower, for $240 million.The share in the property, which houses the headquarters of ANZ Bank, was sold by LaSalle Investment Management. The GPT Group has a per cent share in the property and ISPT holds the remaining 25 per cent. The acquisition is the first direct investment in Australia’s commercial property market for Ivanhoé Cambridge, which holds assets worth more than AU$44 billion in Canada, the US, Europe, Brazil, Mexico and Asia. The group is considering options for further acquisitions in the Asia-Pacific region.”Ivanhoé Cambridge continues to explore the possibilities of increasing our investments in Australia and in other parts of the Asia-Pacific region in 2015,” said Rita-Rose Gagné, executive vice president for Growth Markets for Ivanhoé Cambridge.Blackstone’s senior managing director and head of Real Estate Asia, Christopher Heady, said the stake is the first investment in Asia-Pacific fitting Blackstone’s strategy for core-plus assets.Liberty Place at 161 Castlereagh Street includes 60,176 sqm of office space and 4425 sqm of retail. It is 97 per cent occupied.