Ingenia's $900m-plus move on Peet would create Australia's largest land lease platform

Trading halts, a record Peet result and an $11.5 billion pipeline — inside the deal that could reshape the local land lease sector.

Ingenia Communities Group and Peet Limited are both in ASX trading halts as Ingenia works towards what could become the second-largest transaction in the history of Australia's land lease sector.

According to reports, Ingenia — currently valued at around $1.7 billion — is preparing an offer worth more than $900 million for Peet, structured as a combination of cash and Ingenia securities and reportedly worth at least $2 per share. That's a meaningful premium to Peet's last traded price of $1.80, and well above its stated net tangible asset value of roughly $1.44.

The scale of what's on the table became clearer this week. Peet released a record FY26 result on Tuesday, with net operating profit up 77% to $103.4 million and EBITDA up 54% to $162.8 million, as its margin expanded from 24% to 36%. The developer sold 2,996 lots and settled 2,665, entering FY27 with $851 million in contracts on its books — 39% ahead of the prior year. Ingenia, meanwhile, delayed its own results announcement and pushed its investor webcast back to Wednesday, with its FY26 numbers making no reference to the proposed deal.

For Ingenia, the appeal isn't Peet's earnings — it's the land bank. Peet controls a development pipeline of 26,426 lots across 37 projects, with an estimated end value of $11.5 billion. That includes 16,613 lots held directly and another 9,813 managed through funds and joint ventures. Flagstone City in Queensland alone accounts for 9,324 remaining lots and close to $4 billion in end value.

Suitable sites for new land lease communities have become increasingly expensive and difficult to secure, and buying Peet would hand Ingenia a national development platform built up over decades — addressing a competitive gap that's opened in the sector after Stockland's land lease pipeline overtook Ingenia's own land bank in recent years.

Funding is reportedly coming from more than one source. Thailand's Supalai and another private developer are said to be in the frame for a 50% stake in Flagstone, with Perth-based BN Investments also identified as a potential participant — a structure that could generate around $400 million towards the acquisition cost. UBS is advising Ingenia; Goldman Sachs is advising Peet, having run a sale process on the company for several months.

Should it proceed, the deal would rank as the second-largest the Australian land lease sector has seen, behind only Mirvac and Pacific Equity Partners' $1.01 billion acquisition of 95% of Serenitas in 2023.

The risk sits with Ingenia CEO John Carfi, a former Mirvac residential development chief and Lendlease executive. Peet is a conventional residential developer — a different, more capital-intensive business than land lease — and Carfi will need to convince Ingenia investors that a $11.5 billion pipeline of house-and-land lots is worth the balance sheet exposure it would bring.

No transaction has been confirmed. Both companies have said discussions may not result in a deal, and the market is awaiting a definitive announcement following Ingenia's delayed results and investor briefing.