Pacific Equity Partners, Mirvac sign $1 billion Serenitas acquisition

The two are expected to split Serenitas’ ownership equally, however local mid-market private equity firm Tasman Capital, led by Rob Nichols, will retain a 5 per cent stake.

It is understood the sale price is $1 billion. Rothschild and Herbert Smith Freehills are on the tools for PEP, while law firm Baker McKenzie is working for Serenitas, alongside Goldman. Mirvac shared bankers with PEP, but had its own legal advisers from Ashurst.

An announcement is expected as early as Wednesday.

The acquisition is expected to be housed in PEP’s second Secure Assets Fund, for which PEP’s SAF dealmakers locked in $1.4 billion in May. That raise, which initially targeted $1 billion, capitalised on the tearaway success of PEP’s first secure assets fund, thanks to dream deal smart metres play Intellihub.

While SAF I was big on energy and utilities – think community energy services business WINConnect and remote power outfit Zenith Energy – its second iteration was expected to cast the net wider and also look at transport and logistics, waste, data and telecommunications, and social and agricultural infrastructure.

Mirvac had $1.35 billion in liquidity at June 30. Its investor day on October 10 listed build-to-rent and land lease communities as key areas of growth for the $8.2 billion company, Nearly two-thirds of its current investment portfolio is in office assets, followed by 20 per cent in retail, 13 per cent in industrial and just 2 per cent in build-to-rent.