China-linked group snares Badgery’s Creek land for $500m

The mystery purchaser, while using the moniker Roberts Jones Funds Management, is not connected to the famed New Zealand commercial property trader. An earlier scheme by a fellow Chinese-backed company would have seen a $22bn city built.

The undeveloped 344ha parcel is one of the largest sites bordering the $5bn Nancy Bird Walton Airport and is the largest block so far to change hands amid a scramble for position among developers.

The Medich family bought the Badgerys Creek site in 1996 from the CSIRO for just $3.5m.

In 2017, it was reported that then property tycoon Ron Medich and his property developer brother, Roy, were in talks on a potential $500m sale of their holding beside the proposed airport at Badgerys Creek.

That sale was to be to companies associated with Chinese property billionaire Shen Yuxing, also known as Tin Ching Shum. Mr Shum is the majority shareholder of developer Boyuan Holdings that is undertaking projects across NSW and is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

But that deal did not go ahead and a fresh syndicate was assembled. Companies associated with Roberts Jones Funds Management have recently settled the site for $499.95m, according to CoreLogic.

The land had been transferred at no cost in July 2018, according to CoreLogic records, which showed the latest vendors of the site were Roy Medich Properties Pty Ltd and CSPA Properties Pty Ltd.

Roy Medich is one of western Sydney’s most prominent developers and is active in land projects across NSW, as well as owning a hotel and retail portfolio, all separately from his brother.

A spokesman for Robert Jones said the group was “a local company”.

The group was “a consortium comprised of major institutional financiers [who] supported and helped debt fund this landmark acquisition,” he said.

“We aim to creatively develop this site with the assistance of local project management teams, consultants and contractors, to transform the Northern Gateway site into a major employment, logistics and mixed use precinct servicing the new airport and greater aerotropolis.”

He said Boyuan Holdings was a project manager Robert Jones was considering engaging at the local level. “The main investor we have some knowledge on, but it’s more the local delivery team we are inclined to work more with going forward.”

The Medich Corporation did not return a call on Monday. CSPA Properties counts Ron Medich as its shareholder but he is no longer a director, according to company records. In 2018 he was sentenced to 39 years in jail — 30 years non-parole — for the execution-style murder of former business partner Michael McGurk. Medich has appealed against the verdict.

Roy Medich Properties and CSPA Properties, as owners of the Elizabeth Drive site, had made submissions to the NSW government to shift the course of the planned M12 Motorway.

They complained that their land was “significantly impacted” by the road’s proposed alignment, warning it could lead to the fragmentation and sterilisation of the holding and hit its future land uses.

Boyuan had a key role in the original deal that did not go ahead. It said in a statement that its Chinese billionaire backer was not related to the Roberts Jones entity that bought the Badgerys Creek site.

Sources said the scheme was now backed by a syndicate and it was not clear whether it would have required Foreign Investment Review Board approval.

Key executives at Roberts Jones Funds previously worked at Boyuan and the listed company that put years of work into planning the city-sized scheme and will remain involved.

In 2018, Boyuan proposed a new international university and education precinct, a wellness and healthcare centre headed by world-renowned neurosurgeon Charlie Teo, a Westfield retail entertainment precinct and a hi-tech logistics hub, as key elements of the city it had planned on the site.

The proposed “Northern Gateway” development was promoted as creating 38,000 jobs, resulting in $14.3bn economic output into the Western Sydney region, according to analysis carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Boyuan said that Roberts Jones Development Pty Ltd, the lead developer of the site at Badgerys Creek, had since appointed it as development agents for the project “given our historical knowledge of the site and the Western Sydney Aerotropolis in general”.

The initial proposal that identified potential partners ranging from industrial property group Logos to Westfield-owner Scentre could now be revived.

This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property