The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is providing more than $481 million of seed lending to Australian-based Challenger Investment Partners Ltd., a global fixed income and real estate manger.
The funding it set to go to middle-market real estate loans in Australia and New Zealand, which Challenger will source and manage.
“This partnership marks our first real estate debt investment in Australia and New Zealand,” said Geoffrey Souter, managing director and head of private real estate debt at the CPPIB, in a press release. “We believe these markets offer compelling investment opportunities and we look forward to exploring these together with CIP.”
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The investment will seek to provide alternative financing, including senior and subordinate loans, for properties in desirable locations across the two countries’ gateway cities, noted the release.
“This new partnership with CIP is a further step in the expansion of CPPIB’s investment activities into new asset classes across Asia-Pacific,” said Suyi Kim, senior managing director and head of Asia-Pacific at the CPPIB. “This region offers CPPIB attractive investment opportunities supported by strong fundamentals, and it remains a high priority for our growth.”