Mobile-phone and tablet-based investment platform Raiz Invest will offer a residential property investment option for its users after acquiring a superannuation fund with exposure to the sector.
Raiz announced it would purchase the holding company of niche integrated superannuation and Australian residential property investment platform Superestate via the issue of 5.3 million Raiz shares, which based on a price of $1.7845 per share values Superestate at $9.5 million.
Superestate founder Grant Brits, and the company’s staff, will join Raiz and the two businesses will be integrated progressively, but the formal transaction, which is the first for Raiz, will be completed by late May.
Raiz Invest group chief executive George Lucas said the deal provided benefits for customers of both companies.
“Raiz secures the capability to offer residential property as an asset class in and outside superannuation in much the same way that we successfully introduced Bitcoin to our customers, giving them a means of investing in cryptocurrency,” Lucas said.
“It also means $70 million of funds under management in superannuation, 6000 customers signed up and a residential property fund with eight houses under management can eventually be moved onto the Raiz platform.”
Lucas said Raiz would also acquire a property data and technology platform with more than 13.5 million property valuations that was central to the investment strategy of the residential property fund and would complement its own data analytics capabilities.
Raiz was established and opened to individual investors in 2016 and in March 2021 the investment platform announced it would also allow SMSF investors access to its range of seven diversified portfolios for only a small minimum investment.
