Singapore’s Cambridge Buying Sydney Office Block From Former Tysan Boss for $70M

Fund manager Cambridge RE Partners has snapped up a third education-linked asset in Australia, agreeing to acquire an office building in Sydney’s central business district leased to a major university, according to sources familiar with the transaction who spoke with Mingtiandi.

The Singapore investor signed a put and call option to acquire 400 Kent Street in the New South Wales capital at a price of A$111.58 million ($70.2 million) from Terraform Capital, a privately owned asset management company controlled by the family of Francis Cheung Nim-chee, former chairman of Hong Kong developer Tysan Holdings, the sources said, confirming earlier reports in Australia’s Financial Review.

Cambridge, which is led by former Elite Partners Capital executive Enoch Tan and JMD Group co-founder Jacqueline Wang, acquired the office building currently home to Central Queensland University’s Sydney presence on behalf of its Cambridge Social Infrastructure Fund, bringing the Singapore firm’s commitments to the sector to more than A$310 million in a little over a year. Cambridge representatives declined to comment on the transaction when contacted by Mingtiandi.

Cambridge RE’s purchase of the Sydney tower follows its A$116 million acquisition of a purpose-built student housing asset 400 kilometres (249 miles) to the north in Port Macquarie in April and its A$87 million buy of a classroom facility in Sydney’s Waterloo suburb in January last year.

Sticking Close to Sydney

Situated two blocks inland from Sydney’s Cockle Bay Wharf, Cambridge’s most recent buy is an 11-storey, 10,461 square metre (112,601 square foot) grade A building fully leased to Central Queensland University as its Sydney campus, with over seven years remaining on the lease.

The building has 420 square metres of ground-floor retail space and underground car parking, with materials from a marketing campaign by property consultancy Stanton Hillier Parker, which represented Terraform in the sale, showing a passing income of approximately A$8.46 million per year.

Cambridge’s A$111.58 million buy amounts to a unit price per square metre of A$10,666 and a 7.6 percent net passing yield, sources confirmed to Mingtiandi.

Hong Kong-based Terraform, which is part of Cheung’s Longbow Enterprises family office, had acquired the office block from Credit Suisse Asset Management in 2018, for A$111.8 million, which represented a 4.5 percent yield at the time.

Developed in 1992, 400 Kent Street occupies a 1,175 square metre site and underwent a major refurbishment in 2005 when it was owned by Charter Hall. The property has served as the Sydney campus for Central Queensland University since 1993.

Educational Returns

Cambridge RE invests in real estate assets supported by demand for education, healthcare, logistics and renewable energy in Southeast Asia and Australia, according to the company’s website, with the firm having launched the Cambridge Social Infrastructure Fund in the fourth quarter of 2023 to pursue in education and healthcare real estate opportunities in Australia.

The Singapore player’s purchase of the 400 Kent Street mirrors its buy of Taylors House, the Waterloo property which was its first purchase under the Social Infrastructure fund and which is largely leased to Taylors College Sydney, a private prep school.

Following that purchase last year, the fund manager cited the influx of foreign students into Australia and the increasing demand for quality education from the domestic market as factors driving demand for education-linked space.

Nearly 1.1 million international students enrolled in Australian schools and universities in the first 11 months of 2024, according to the country’s Department of Education, with that figure representing a 15 percent increase from 2019.

That influx of students has attracted attention from global institutional investors, with M&G Real Estate announcing on Monday that it had acquired a purpose-built student accommodation asset in Melbourne for nearly $62 million, as part of a strategy targeting the sector.

Earlier this month Singapore’s SC Capital Partners said that it had sold a Sydney student housing complex at a 19 percent premium to book value.