Qualitas secures new $440m Construction Commitment from Global Investor

Qualitas has secured a new capital commitment from a global institutional investor to invest A$440 million in the Qualitas Construction Debt Fund II (CDFII).

This enables CDFII to immediately secure a large scale residential construction loan opportunity and increases the size of CDFII to approximately A$1.20 billion of committed capital. Of note, this additional capital was attracted without further co-investment required by Qualitas into the fund.

Following the addition of this new commitment, FUM has increased to approximately A$5.33 billion, representing net FUM growth of circa 25% since 30 June 20221.

Including the recent addition of the Qualitas Diversified Credit Investments (QDCI) mandate from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Qualitas has raised a total of A$1.19 billion in new capital in the first three months of FY23.

The proportion of Qualitas’ total committed FUM managed on behalf of local and international institutional investors has also increased to approximately 75%.

Continuing the Company’s strong capital deployment momentum following a record year in FY22, the new capital commitment to CDFII is being immediately allocated to a new senior construction facility of A$440m exclusive of capitalised interest for a residential development project situated in an established residential area in Sydney, New South Wales.

The borrower is a well-capitalised, local private developer with an established track record of residential apartment project delivery.

Andrew Schwartz, Group Managing Director, and Co-founder of Qualitas, said: “Our strong momentum in FUM growth reflects our status as a trusted Australian alternative real estate investment manager and reinforces the benefits of our established relationships with global investors, our strong balance sheet capacity, and a market leading, best-in-class team. We continue our strong support of the residential sector given strong underlying fundamentals.”

“Our ability to deploy funds to such a significant transaction highlights Qualitas’ key competitive advantages, including our ability to analyse and execute complex transactions in a timely manner while providing the borrower with a single counterparty to deal with. Our ability to match global capital with significant, large-scale investment opportunities further demonstrates the benefits of the alternative private credit model at a time when traditional lenders are continuing their retreat from the commercial real estate sector.”

Qualitas reaffirms its FY23 forecasts as follows:

• Net Profit Before Tax is estimated between A$30 million and A$33 million
• Earnings per Security is expected to be between 7.1 cps and 7.9 cps