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Crest Capital acquires 51% of Australia’s Questus

  • Susannah Birkwood
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Singapore-based Crest Capital Asia has agreed to recapitalize Western Australia’s Questus in exchange for a 51% stake in the investment company.

Crest will provide Perth-based Questus with $10 million to put towards working capital, a $20 million development loan, and a $100 million acquisition funding facility to allow it to purchase National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) homes. The NRAS is a joint affordable housing initiative between the state of Perth and the Australian federal government.

Founded in 2003, fund manager Questus has investments in the retirement housing and NRAS real estate development sectors. Its residential property trust holding, to which the $100 million will be allotted, is expected to own 2,000-3,000 rental homes, valued at $1.2-1.5 billion, over the next three years.

"There has been a lot of interest in a fund like this. The problem has been getting the volume and a diversified portfolio to make it attractive for institutional investors," David Somerville, executive chairman at Australian Securities Exchange-listed Questus, told The Australian. "But we believe we have a model that will make it attractive and Crest is eager to help us initiate and seed such a fund."

The investment by Crest is subject to shareholder approval.

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