Spotlight on Julian Biggins, Co-founder & Joint Chief Executive Officer, MA Financial Group
Global Thought Leader Spotlight
Julian Biggins, Co-founder & Joint Chief Executive Officer, MA Financial Group
I am a Co-Founder and Joint Chief Executive Officer of MA Financial Group. In addition to my broader leadership responsibilities across the firm, I have a particular focus on our real estate asset management platform, which manages over A$9 billion in assets across both core and alternative real estate sectors, as well as debt.
Our core real estate portfolio spans industrial and logistics, office, with a strategic focus on retail assets, while our alternative real estate portfolio includes hospitality, marinas, and Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA). A key differentiator of our platform is our active management approach – we directly operate and manage many of our assets, enabling us to drive operational performance, enhance asset value, and deliver long-term outcomes for our investors.
Private versus public market real estate investments
While listed real estate provides liquidity and efficient market access, private real estate offers a differentiated return profile that can enhance portfolio resilience over the long term. Its lower correlation with listed equities and reduced exposure to short-term market sentiment can provide meaningful diversification benefits, particularly during periods of heightened volatility.
Private market investments are also supported by extensive direct asset due diligence, with specialist teams conducting detailed commercial, financial and operational analysis before capital is committed.
Private real estate is one of the few asset classes capable of delivering a combination of stable income, inflation protection and diversification. These characteristics have become increasingly valuable in an uncertain environment where investors are seeking more durable and predictable sources of return.
Beyond these portfolio benefits, private markets provide access to specialist sectors, emerging themes and bespoke investment opportunities that are often unavailable, or less efficiently accessed, through public markets. While these investments require investors to accept lower liquidity, they are compensated through the ability to capture an illiquidity premium and benefit from long-term value creation.
In our view, the strongest outcomes are delivered to investors who pair patient capital with deep sector expertise, operational capability and active asset management. As the real estate market continues to evolve, these competitive advantages will become increasingly important in identifying opportunities and generating superior risk-adjusted returns.
Compelling opportunities in less institutionalised sectors
While traditional real estate sectors such as office, retail and logistics remain important components of institutional portfolios, they are also among the most mature and competitive. Increasingly, we see the most compelling opportunities emerging in sectors that are still undergoing institutionalisation.
Areas such as hospitality assets, marinas and Specialist Disability Housing (SDA), alongside accommodation hotels, land lease communities, childcare and aged care, benefit from long-term structural demand but continue to exhibit fragmented ownership, operational complexity and relatively limited institutional capital. These characteristics create market inefficiencies that can be difficult to access through passive investment approaches but present attractive opportunities for experienced, specialised managers.
It has been demonstrated that as these sectors mature and institutional capital participation increases, investors who establish exposure early have the potential to benefit from both growing income streams and capital appreciation. However, long term success requires deep sector expertise, operational capability and active asset management to unlock value throughout the investment lifecycle.
Entry price is key
In investing, entry price remains one of the most important determinants of long-term investment performance. Today's market presents a compelling opportunity to acquire high-quality assets at prices below replacement cost.
This pricing disconnect reflects current capital market conditions rather than a deterioration in the underlying quality of assets. Higher interest rates and subdued transaction activity have weighed on valuations, while elevated construction costs and constrained development activity have significantly reduced the pipeline of new supply.
These dynamics create a favourable backdrop for existing assets. With land inherently finite and replacement costs expected to remain structurally higher, limited new supply is likely to support occupancy, rental growth and asset values over the medium to long term. Notwithstanding this, a discount to replacement cost does not guarantee returns. The demand for the asset still needs be robust to generating a growing income stream.
We believe investors who can deploy capital selectively in the current environment have an opportunity to secure attractive entry points and generate compelling long-term risk-adjusted returns as markets normalise.
The importance of active management and operational expertise
In many alternative real estate sectors, investment performance is increasingly driven by operational excellence as opposed to interest rates continuously falling. As cap rate compression becomes a less reliable source of returns, the ability to improve operations, enhance the customer experience and grow underlying cash flows has become a more important driver of value creation.
This is particularly evident in sectors such as hospitality, marinas and Specialist Disability Housing (SDA), where operational performance and real estate value are intrinsically linked. Success requires more than capital, demanding operating expertise, hands-on asset management and a deep understanding of the businesses operating within the real estate.
Managers with integrated operational capabilities are therefore better positioned to identify opportunities, drive performance improvements and create long-term value than those whose expertise is primarily financial.
At MA Financial, this operational capability is embedded across our platform. Our in-house expertise spans retail shopping centres, hospitality, marinas and development, enabling us to actively manage assets throughout their lifecycle rather than simply own them. We believe this integrated model is a key differentiator and an increasingly important source of competitive advantage in less institutionalised sectors of the market.
Opportunities for sophisticated investors
Private real estate continues to offer investors a compelling combination of diversification, resilient income and inflation protection within their portfolios.
In today's market, we believe the most attractive opportunities lie in private markets, particularly within alternative real estate sectors that remain under-institutionalised and less efficiently priced. Sectors such as hospitality, marinas and Specialist Disability Housing (SDA) combine favourable long-term demand fundamentals with the potential for both income growth and capital appreciation as institutional capital continues to increase.
Equally important is investment discipline. The current environment has created an attractive entry point for patient investors, with many high-quality assets trading at discounts to replacement cost. Elevated construction costs, constrained development activity and limited capital availability have significantly curtailed new supply, creating supportive fundamentals for well-located existing assets over the medium to long term.
While market conditions remain challenging, periods of dislocation have historically provided some of the most attractive opportunities to deploy long-term capital. As capital markets normalise and financing conditions improve over time, high-quality real estate acquired at today's valuations is well positioned to benefit from improving market sentiment and renewed institutional demand.
Ultimately, however, asset selection and execution will be the key differentiators. Investors should seek managers with deep sector expertise, operational capability and a proven track record of active asset management. In an increasingly specialised market, the ability to improve operations, enhance cash flows and create value throughout the asset lifecycle will be critical to delivering superior long-term risk-adjusted returns.
Julian will be presenting at Global Investment Institute’s upcoming Family Office Investment Forum on Tuesday, 1 September 2026 in Melbourne CBD, Victoria. To register your interest in attending, click here or for more information email zlatan@globalii.com.au.
Julian Biggins, Co-founder & Joint Chief Executive Officer, MA Financial Group
Julian is Co-Founder and Joint Chief Executive Officer of MA Financial Group. He has over 20 years of experience providing M&A and capital markets advice to real estate and funds management companies.
Julian was previously a senior member of JP Morgan’s Asia Pacific real estate investment banking team, and prior to that was a member of UBS’ Australian real estate research team.
He has a Bachelor of Business (Property) and a Bachelor of Business (Banking and Finance) from the University of South Australia.
Global Investment Institute is Australia’s leading provider of conferences for capital allocators.
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