Charter Hall has purchased three Niño Early Learning Adventures childcare centres in Melbourne for $34.4m.

The sale of the centres in Mickleham, Craigieburn and Ivanhoe represents a yield of 4.5%, based on passing annual income of $1,543,000.

The three assets span 1,003sqm-2,499sqm, with Mickleham opening its doors in October and Craigieburn and Ivanhoe under construction, set to follow in February 2022.

CBRE’s Australian Healthcare and Social Infrastructure team of Sandro Peluso, Jimmy Tat and Marcello Caspani-Muto managed the Expressions of Interest sale campaign.

“Charter Hall has a keen understanding of demand and supply fundamentals like strong population growth, workforce participation and civic needs,” Mr Peluso said.

“Their focus on early learning centres is reflective of their financial insight an forward thinking approach in a society with ever-changing needs.

The CBRE team has now managed Nino Early Learning’s past 14 childcare centre sales, dating back to 2017, with a combined transaction value of more than $200 million to a mix of local and international parties.

When they open next year, the centres at Craigieburn and Ivanhoe will take Niño Early Learning Adventures’ tally to 16 across Melbourne.

With Niño’s track record of high occupancy rates, the listing generated significant interest in excess of $30 million.

“With a substantial volume of conforming bids received, it is clear that investment groups who historically have not played within the childcare space are pivoting toward the sector at a rapid rate,” Mr Peluso added.

“There is particularly strong interest in leaseback transactions, which have grown in popularity in recent years and are proving to be highly attractive, as a flood of investors seek long-term income streams.

“In turn, these transactions give owner-occupiers an opportunity to reinvest the sale proceeds back into their core businesses.”

A leading property investment and funds management company, Charter Hall is Australia’s largest owner of early learning centres, actively partnering with 37 high quality childcare operators to provide an integrated service offering.

“This sale demonstrates the appetite and level of competition from domestic and international investment groups who now mandate that their portfolios include social infrastructure assets or have created specific funds to target the sector,” Mr Tatt said.

To request a sales analysis please contact the selling agents CBRE Australian Healthcare and Social Infrastructure team of Sandro Peluso, Jimmy Tat and Marcello Caspani-Muto via the below contact details.