AREA Sells 35% Stake to Australian Bank

NEW YORK CITY-AREA Property Partners, formerly Apollo Real Estate Advisors, has sold a 35% minority, non-controlling interest to nabInvest, the direct asset management arm of National Australia Bank Ltd. Terms were not disclosed; AREA’s senior management, led by chairman William Mack and global CEO Lee Neibart, will continue to lead the business.

The partnership with nabInvest is intended to further AREA’s strategic growth plans, along with fulfilling AREA’s goal of adding a global real estate investment manager to its platform. “National Australia Bank is exactly the type of partner we sought to open greater international channels and to increase our capital for investment in real estate assets around the world,” Mack says in a statement. “Having sustained and grown our portfolio through the downturn, our partnership with National Australia Bank puts us in a unique position to take advantage of the recovery.”

Neibart says in a statement that the alliance with NAB means “we immediately augment our resources with permanent capital but even greater, we will accelerate our growth going forward through our partnership with nabInvest.” He notes that NAB has a significant institutional distribution capability covering the Australia and New Zealand markets, which represent the world’s fourth largest asset management market with $1 trillion in assets under management.

In an interview with Bloomberg Wednesday, Neibart said the partnership represents “an opportunity to acquire larger distressed assets, we think that there’ll be an opportunity to significantly grow our debt business. So by having access to this type of capital, we can look for bigger things to do.” AREA has invested in more than 500 transactions with an aggregate value of $60 billion since its formation in 1993.