Australia's Lend Lease launches A$2 bln fund for Sydney office tower

[SYDNEY] Australian property group Lend Lease said on Monday it had launched a A$2 billion (S$2.07 billion) fund to invest in an upcoming sprawling office tower development in Sydney's Darling Harbour.

The open-ended wholesale fund will fully acquire Tower-1 of Barangaroo South with A$1.4 billion of equity commitments from capital partners including Qatar Investment Authority and A$600 million of debt financing.

Lend Lease and Qatar Investment Authority will each provide 37.5 per cent of the equity, while Lend Lease-managed Australian Prime Property Fund Commercial will put up another 25 percent.

The developer has recently signed leasing arrangements with Marsh & McLennan Companies and Servcorp to occupy the tower, it said in a statement on Monday.

Almost two-thirds of the towers, currently under construction, have already been pre-leased. Tower-1 will be completed in the financial year ending June 2017, while towers 2 and 3 will be completed in FY16, it added.

REUTERS