During its investor day on November 22, management at CapitaLand Investment (CLI) announced their plans to expand their business in Australia. To support this growth, the company has recently appointed two senior hires, Angelo Scasserra and Rahul Bharara, to newly created roles as CEO and chief investment officer respectively. These hires are expected to join the company in the first half of 2025.
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To further strengthen their presence in Australia, CLI plans to invest up to A$1 billion ($876.7 million) to grow their funds under management (FUM) in the country. In September, CLI closed its Australian Credit Programme (ACP), their maiden credit fund with a value of A$265 million that was backed by Asian investors.
CLI’s group CEO, Lee Chee Koon, shared during the investor day that the company has formed a partnership with teams from Wingate in Australia to originate and underwrite deals, and that there is a lot of potential for growth in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
Interestingly, on November 25, the Australian Financial Review reported that CLI planned to acquire Wingate. This move may come as a surprise given that in 2014, CapitaLand divested its subsidiary, Australand Property Group, which was then acquired by Frasers Property Australia. During the Q&A session at the investor day, CLI’s chairman, Miguel Ko, mentioned that the decision to sell Australand and invest more in China was made before his time as chairman. He declined to comment on his predecessors’ decisions, stating that the company did not have a crystal ball to predict the current situation in China at the time.
At the time of the divestment, China was experiencing a booming market and CapitaLand had a significant competitive advantage. Whether this was a good move or not is up for debate, as Ko stated, “That could have been a major win or a wrong move. This is not a comment on whether my predecessors made a right or wrong decision.” According to then-president and group CEO, Lim Ming Yan, the decision to divest Australand was made during “favorable” market conditions and the company wanted to reallocate capital to their core businesses in Singapore and China. The remaining 39.1% stake in Australand was sold in March 2014, following a partial divestment in November 2013, to improve trading liquidity.
With the recent appointment of Scasserra and Bharara and their plans to invest in Australia, CLI’s FUM is expected to reach $113 billion. This puts them in competition with other companies racing to increase their AUMs.