Retail Employees Superannuation Trust, Sydney, hired Barings to run a A$1 billion ($651 million) industrial real estate assets in a separately managed account.
The firm said in a Dec. 4 statement that it had acquired a fully leased industrial asset comprising two warehouses in Melbourne as part of the new partnership. The warehouses were acquired for A$94 million on behalf of the superannuation fund through a separate managed account of which Rest is the sole investor, a Barings spokesperson confirmed.
The agreement between Barings and Rest allows the investment manager to procure A$1 billion of value-added, core-plus and develop-to-core industrial assets in Australia, the firm said in the release.
"We believe increasing exposure to the industrial property sector by leveraging Barings' industrial expertise will benefit our members with the historically tight vacancy rates, sustained tenant demand, and strong long-term outlooks," Andrew Lill, chief investment officer at Rest, said in the statement.
The industrial investments will further diversify Rest's property investments and the fund is excited to expand its relationship with Barings into the industrial property sector in Australia, he added. Barings was listed as a debt investment manager for Rest in the super fund's most recent annual report.
The warehouses are the partnership's first asset acquisition. They are located in western Melbourne.
Barings, a subsidiary of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, has $347 billion in assets under management and manages A$6.3 billion in Australian real estate assets. Rest has A$75 billion in assets.
