Australians move in on retirement sector

An Australian investor that has just received Government clearance to buy one of the country's largest retirement village chains is new to the sector.

A venture owned by ASX-listed companies Primelife Corp, Babcock & Brown and MFS got official clearance last month to buy the Primecare chain of Auckland and Mt Maunganui retirement villages for $130 million.

That joint venture, PrimeLiving Trust, was only established in October but chief Jim Hazel said it wanted to dominate the market in Australia.

The trust wanted "national market leadership", said Hazel, who is managing director of Primelife, which owns the Henry Kendall portfolio of villages in New South Wales where it has 1230 units. Primelife is already well-established in the retirement sector, managing 40 Australian retirement villages and 20 aged-care facilities.

Rob Topfer, Babcock & Brown's head of corporate finance, said PrimeLiving would make a series of acquisitions, assisted by his company's experience in financing.

PrimeLiving bought Primecare, which has a string of North Island retirement entities: Ocean Shores Village at Mount Maunganui, Mayfair Village at Browns Bay, Parklane Village at Forrest Hill, Knightsbridge Village at Mairangi Bay and the Peninsula Club Village at Whangaparaoa.

The Overseas Investment Office cleared the sale by two New Zealand parties to the Australians and said the Knightsbridge and Peninsula village properties were considered land for the purposes of the Overseas Investment Act 2005. Those two blocks were detailed in the approval as 27ha of freehold land at Graham Collins Drive at Albany and on Whangaparaoa Rd at Stanmore Bay.

The Government is interested in the growing retirement village sector.

Its exploration organisation, the Centre for Housing Research, has added a study to its website. Centre chairman Nigel Haworth said a study on the changing role of retirement villages in New Zealand's ageing society had been posted on www.chranz.co.nz. The study came out last year as part of a masters thesis by Sally Greenbrook. Last month, the centre called for tenders on a study on housing options for the aged and disabled.