Quest seeks institutional investor for development pipeline

Australia: Quest Apartments has appointed Goldman Sachs to find an institutional partner, to buy five of its serviced apartment schemes plus its future projects.

The move could potentially create an unlisted property trust worth up to AUS$300 million.

Quest develops up to 10 serviced apartment schemes annually, each valued at up to $50 million and operates more than 150 properties in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.

Chairman Paul Constantinou said: "We can find the one-off deal. Earlier this year, for example, we sold Quest Albury. But we are trying to find an institution who has an appetite for this asset class, we would like to see it grow."

The company will initially sell five existing developments, including Quest's Sydney Olympic Park complex, to a capital partner, creating Australia's first unlisted trust solely devoted to serviced apartments.

"We are looking at an institution buying five but our appetite is for a much larger portfolio - we are happy to work with them to take out other Quest properties from other developers," said Constantinou.

Quest chief executive Zed Sanjana said: "It could be a REIT (but) it's unlikely it would be listed. It's more likely to be an unlisted fund in which capital can be deployed by various super funds towards the ultimate ownership of properties in which Quest operates as a tenant."

www.questapartments.com.au