Singapore’s GIC Teams With Aussie REIT for $179M Self-Storage JV

Singaporean sovereign fund GIC is setting up a joint venture with an Australia-listed REIT to pursue the development and operation of self-storage centres Down Under.

GIC and National Storage REIT plan to deploy A$270 million ($178.7 million) in total capital during the first 12 to 18 months of the partnership, known as the National Storage Ventures Fund, according to a Thursday stock filing. GIC will hold a 75 percent equity interest in the JV and NSR the remaining 25 percent stake.

The JV will be seeded with 10 assets sourced from NSR’s existing development portfolio. The trust expects net sale proceeds of A$120 million from the JV’s acquisition of the seed assets, with the sum to be used to repay debt.

“Partnering with a respected investment partner such as GIC in the new National Storage Ventures Fund represents a significant opportunity for National Storage to accelerate and diversify its development pipeline and increase operational scale, while maintaining a conservative level of gearing,” said NSR managing director Andrew Catsoulis.

Mini-Shed Momentum

The JV, which has an initial term of at least five years, remains subject to closing conditions and regulatory approval. NSR will act as manager and identify, acquire and develop all self-storage assets acquired for and on behalf of the JV while earning service fees.

With over 250 locations, National Storage is the biggest self-storage provider in Australia and New Zealand. In 2013 the company became the first independent, internally managed and fully integrated owner-operator of self-storage centres to list on the ASX.

Australia has more than 1,700 self-storage facilities nationwide, according to Peter Guevarra, a director on JLL’s Asia Pacific research team.

“The majority of investors choose to either invest in a platform with the intention of expanding within a specific country, driven by the need to establish operations that cater to local consumers, or leverage the operational expertise of an operator to expand their presence across multiple markets in Asia Pacific,” Guevarra told Mingtiandi in March.

That month saw Warburg Pincus-backed StorHub launch its Australian business with a $300 million equity commitment after the group’s acquisition of self-storage operators in Malaysia and Japan last year.

StorHub’s Aussie platform is seeded with five assets in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra with a total gross floor area of 56,210 square metres (605,000 square feet), building on an existing footprint of 655,000 square metres across 480 locations in Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, mainland China and Hong Kong.

Down Under Dealing

GIC opened its Sydney office in 2022 and has continued to make big property bets in Australia, including the purchase of a 49 percent stake in a student housing portfolio for $407 million and the acquisition of the West Village retail precinct in Brisbane with co-investor Centuria Capital Group for $142 million.

Mingtiandi reported last November that the sovereign investor was launching a healthcare-focused property fund with Australia’s Real Asset Management and taking a 45 percent haircut to exit its stake in Sydney’s Chatswood Chase mall.

GIC also put its half-stake in Perth’s Westfield Whitford City mall up for sale last year, according to Australian press accounts.