Stockland bulks up in retirement sector
Stockland has struck a deal to buy retirement village operator Halcyon Group for $620 million, plus transaction costs.
Retirement costs have continued to increase:(Image Unsplash)
The deal includes the acquisition of 3800 sites and across 13 land lease communities and 2500 new customers.
Land lease communities are typically affordable villages in which residents lease the land rather than buying it outright, which saves on stamp duty and other costs.
Halcyon has a strong presence in Queensland with villages in the Gold and Sunshine coasts and Logan and Caboolture.
Stockland managing director Tarun Gupta said the deal was in line with the company’s strategy to grow its presence in the sector.
Its portfolio would grow to 7800 sites following the deal.
He said demand for land lease was growing as Australia’s population aged and was now the fastest growing segment in the over 50 market.
“We see the land lease communities business as complementary to our master planned communities land bank and believe there are synergies we can leverage to grow our business at scale nationally and achieve our ambition of becomeing a leading operator in this space,” Gupta said.
The deal will be funded from cash flow.
