Melbourne, 27 March 2020 – Labassa Capital Australian Real Estate Credit Fund rated STRONG
Australia Ratings Analytics (Australia Ratings) has assigned an investment rating of ‘STRONG’ to the Labassa Capital Australian Real Estate Credit Fund (the Fund). A Product Complexity Indicator of ‘YELLOW’ has also been assigned to designate the view that the Fund is a COMPLEX financial product, indicating that the underlying assets require specialist investment skills to acquire and to monitor. ‘In addition, investment in this Fund is effectively Illiquid and investors should have a good understanding of the term and characteristics of the distributions from this type of fund. This Fund is available to wholesale investors only.
A rating of STRONG indicates a strong level of confidence that the Fund can deliver a risk-adjusted return in line with its investment objectives. The experience of the Fund’s management team supports this rating.
The Labassa Capital Australian Real Estate Credit Fund (the Fund) is managed by Labassa Capital Pty Ltd, a debt and equity investor focused on Australian real estate. The Fund is an open-ended Australian unit trust, which is expected to be fully invested in secured loans in the real estate financing sector; looking primarily for opportunities in major capital cities and east coast cities of Australia such as Newcastle, Wollongong, Gold Coast, and Geelong. The Fund is expected to invest in construction loans, land bank loans, and investment loans.
Though a new fund, with inception in August/September 2019, the Fund has produced relatively consistent returns above its target, with the FUM having grown steadily from $5m in September 2019 to approximately $21m in January 2020. In addition, there are further loans amounting to $102m contracted, awaiting satisfaction of conditions.
Australia Ratings’ analyst, Maggie Callinan, says “the rating reflects the experience of the Fund’s management team”. She added, “all key decision makers have personal investments in the Fund, which adds to the level of confidence in the investment process”.
The research report is available from www.australiaratings.com.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Maggie Callinan, Director
maggie.callinan@australiaratings.com 03 8080 6684
ABOUT AUSTRALIA RATINGS
Australia Ratings is a local, independent rating agency that provides research and ratings on debt securities, investment products, and Operational Capability Assessments. As an ASIC-licensed rating agency, we provide general advice to the broader investment community through our detailed reports. We are Australia’s only agency that holds a retail Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL). This enables both retail and wholesale investors to use our credit ratings to help them gauge credit risk and complexity of financial products sold in the Australian market.
About Australia Ratings’ Investment Rating
Our investment rating reflects Australia Ratings’ current opinion of a fund’s or an investment’s ability to achieve its stated investment objectives in the near term.The rating expresses a view on the expected consistency of the fund’s or investment’s performance within its peer or style group and on the fund manager’s ability to produce superior performance amongst its peers in the near term with due regard to the medium-term consensus view of the asset class to which the product is benchmarked.
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