Charter Hall Social REIT buys into Sydney’s innovation hub

Oksana Patron

6 February 2023

Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT (CQE) has acquired a 49.9% interest for $66.9 million in healthcare Innovation Quarter (iQ) in Western Sydney.

The fund has funded the acquisition of iQ through the full divestment of securities held in Arena REIT and the divestment of five non-core early learning properties.

iQ is a newly constructed healthcare, medical research, education and training facility that has been developed by Charter Hall and Western Sydney University and is located in Western Sydney, adjacent to Westmead Hospital.

Western Sydney University occupies approximately 47% of iQ on a 15-year initial term with the CSIRO occupying approximately 16% of the property on a 10-year initial term.

Other tenants included Telstra Health, Psych Central and WentWest.

In the announcement made to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), CQE fund manger, Travis Butcher, described the move as “consistent with CQE’s active portfolio curation strategy” with the new asset representing “a high quality, new social infrastructure property” with strong fundamentals.