Brighter Super tasks Barings with $100m mandate to acquire Queensland real estate assets

19 December 2024

Brighter Super has appointed global asset management firm Barings to execute the first tranche of its Queensland Investment Strategy, tasking it with a $100 million mandate to acquire real estate assets across Queensland.

Queensland’s industrial property sector has enormous potential which Brighter Super and Barings believe if managed well can deliver fantastic returns for investors and indeed the Queensland economy.

A growing population, record infrastructure spending and the catalyst of the 2032 Olympics Queensland is providing the confidence to invest locally.

Brighter Super Chief Executive Officer Kate Farrar unveiled the Queensland Investment Strategy in May 2024, pledging to invest a further $500 million of new capital into Queensland, on top of the $1 billion already invested in the state with 85% of Funds Under Management (FUM) from Queensland members.

Under the mandate, Barings will be tasked with deploying $100 million in capital into mostly industrial property investments covering a broad geographic spread in Queensland.

“This is the first of our investments, progressing the Brighter Super Queensland Investment Strategy which aims to support our members in the communities where they live and work,” Ms Farrar said.

“Industrial assets form the backbone of our communities, driving economic growth, creating jobs, and supporting essential supply chains. They play a pivotal role in strengthening local economies and building resilient, connected communities,” Ms Farrar said.

Ms Farrar said Brighter Super was pleased to build on its existing investments managed through Barings, which include the Village Roadshow land at Oxenford on the Gold Coast.

Brighter Super Chief Investment Officer Mark Rider said the Barings Australian real estate business had demonstrated market leading performance and the firm’s mandate would support the Queensland economy and is aiming to produce strong returns for members.

“Barings has a strong international reputation with US$431 billion in assets under management globally and its Australian team has a long-standing, demonstrated trust-based and high integrity relationship with Brighter Super,’’ Mr Rider said.

Under the mandate Barings will be tasked with acquiring properties across Queensland, including assets in Southeast Queensland as well as throughout the regions. Mr Rider said Brighter Super expected that industrial sector fundamentals will continue to outperform other sectors of the property market over the next five years.

Industrial assets have outperformed all other property sectors in the MSCI/Mercer Australian Core Wholesale Property Fund Index in the past 10 years.

The expected strong performance would be driven by continued growth in e-commerce and the need for logistics centres, the adoption of automation by industry, a domestic trend to hold higher levels of stock on hand to boost supply chain efficiencies and population growth.

Barings Australia Executive Director Paul Notaras said, “Barings currently has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. Barings will have a dedicated team tasked with implementing this strategy. We are excited about the continuation of our successful longstanding relationship targeting this bespoke strategy in QLD with Brighter Super. Brighter Super has been one of our founding supporters in our value-add fund series since inception in 2010.’’

The Brighter Super Property team will collaborate with Barings to target a relatively broad geographic spread across the state subject to opportunities and the assets meeting the mandate’s return requirements.

The Fund believes that the industrial property sector contains many attractive opportunities across Queensland that can be managed to achieve their full economic potential. The state also has attractive investment fundamentals including a growing population, record infrastructure spending, and the looming 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games.