Seaside townhouses at Balmoral Quay, a residential project in Geelong, 71 kilometres west of Melbourne. It is the first project in Australia Supalai invested in.  Kanana Katharangsiporn

SET-listed developer Supalai will earmark 12.6 billion baht for acquiring and developing 12 residential projects in five Australian cities, following a decade in which it invested 9.7 billion baht in 12 projects across four cities.

Atip Bijanonda, director of Supalai Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, a registered Australian subsidiary of Supalai, said the company's investments since 2014 met its targeted return.

"We aimed for an internal rate of return [IRR] of 18% and, on average, our investments achieved this target, though some projects performed above or below expectations," he said.

"While the returns are not as high as those from residential development in Thailand, we have diversified our risks given the current challenges in the Thai market."

The new investment will be made through a joint venture with Stockland Communities Partnership HoldCo Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Stockland Corporation Ltd, one of Australia's largest listed developers and a partner in the first 12 projects.

Late last year, both companies established a joint venture, Stockland Supalai Residential Communities Partnership Pty Ltd (SSRCP), in which Supalai Australia Holdings and Stockland hold a 49.9% stake and a 50.1% stake, respectively.

SSRCP will acquire 12 masterplanned community projects (MPCs) from Lendlease Group, a multinational construction and real estate company headquartered in Barangaroo, New South Wales. The acquisition is valued at A$1.06 billion or 25.3 billion baht.

The MPC projects, comprising approximately 27,600 lots, are located in greenfield growth areas across Greater Sydney, Southeast Queensland, Greater Melbourne and Greater Perth.

Some of these locations, such as Sydney and Wollongong, are new markets for Supalai.

The combined value of these 12 projects is A$5.78 billion, or 137.7 billion baht, based on Supalai's portion of the shareholding.

"Australia is an interesting market due to its stable economy, abundant resources, customers with high purchasing power and the wave of immigration into the country, increasing the need for housing. Not to mention the stability of its currency, making Australia an attractive and reliable option for investment," said Mr Atip.

Prasas Tangmatitam, a director of Supalai Australia Holdings, said Lendlease Group initially approached the company to offer its 12 MPC projects for sale, but Supalai declined because the prices were too high.

"After that, Lendlease Group approached Stockland, and Stockland then invited us to co-invest, as the investment was very huge," said Mr Prasas. "We also received more attractive prices than the initial offers."

Supalai entered the Australian residential market in 2014 through joint ventures with six partners to develop 12 projects including townhouses, apartment units and land subdivision in Melbourne, Geelong, Brisbane and Perth. Its portion of the shareholding was valued at more than 50 billion baht.

As of the end of June 2024, cumulative sales from the first 12 projects tallied 24.5 billion baht.

In the first half, Supalai Australia Holdings recorded sales of 1.7 billion baht, representing 70% year-on-year growth.