Blackstone said on Wednesday that it plans to buy a retirement village portfolio in New Zealand from Australian property developer Lendlease.
The world’s biggest real estate investor said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the portfolio of five villages.
Four of the villages are in Auckland -- the Knightsbridge, Mayfair, Parklane, and Peninsula Club. Another is in Mt Maunganui and called Ocean Shores village.
The five villages employ 141 staff, comprise 1,000 residences, and are home to 1,200 people.
The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Blackstone intends for the business to be stand alone with local management running the show.
The transaction is expected to close in the next several months pending relevant regulatory approvals.
ASX-listed property firm Lendlease says on its website that it is Australia’s largest owner, operator, and developer of senior living communities, with around 70 retirement villages in its portfolio.
Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities team is making the investment. It seeks investments that are time-sensitive, complex, or in dislocated markets where it believes risk is fundamentally mispriced.
Blackstone already has investments in the retirement living sector in Australia. Other Blackstone funds have owned the loss-making Burger King franchise in New Zealand since 2011.
The firm bought a chemical business called Ixom, formerly Orica Chemicals, in November 2014 which has operations in New Zealand. Its private equity funds also bought Antares Restaurant Group in 2011.
