Capital markets heavyweight AustralianSuper is understood to have taken a close look at over-50s lifestyle developments owner and developer GemLife.
AustralianSuper, with about $260 billion in assets invested on behalf of members, was understood to be looking to make the investment directly via its own internal team, rather than via a third-party manager.Aware Super was another big superannuation player understood to have had an early look, while Macquarie Asset Management and Brookfield were among a long list of parties said to have been targeted.
Sources said the Puljich family, from Queensland, were looking at offering a “material stake” to big Australian listed real estate groups and others circling over-50s estate owners, to realise some of their investment and help with succession planning. The Puljichs’ play started in 1982 with Peter Puljich and one site owned by his family company, Living Gems. It increased its footprint steadily in Queensland, before the family set up GemLife in 2016 alongside Thakral Capital, a financial investor and subsidiary of Singapore’s Thakral Corporation.