Delfin Limited

Delfin, formerly the Development Finance Company Ltd (DFC) was a business carrying out residential developments. It was acquired by Lendlease in 2001.

Delfin

Industry	Real estate development
Founded	1953
Headquarters	Sydney, Australia

History

Delfin was established as the Development Finance Company by John Marks in 1953. DFC became a public company in 1957 and was listed on the stock exchange in 1959. The purpose of DFC was to serve as an "investment banking service" that would "assist Australia’s industrial development by providing long-term finance and permanent capital to Australian companies."^[1] The abbreviation “DelFin” was used in the names of some of DFC's subsidiary companies.^[2]

DFC entered the real estate development market in 1969. Via an indenture signed by its subsidiary, Delfin Management Services Pty Ltd and the Government of South Australia, Delfin built a real estate development called West Lakes. West Lakes is in the upper estuary of the Port River, known as the Upper Port Reach, to the north-west of the Adelaide city centre.^[3][2]

In 1983, DFC was acquired by ANZ Bank.^[2]

After separating from ANZ, Delfin Property Group was acquired by Lendlease in 2001 for $172 million (AUD). Upon acquisition, Delfin Property Group was de-listed and became Delfin Lend Lease, a subsidiary company of Lendlease.^[4]

Urban developments

DFC initiated a number of urban developments across Australia in the latter half of the 20th century, and into the 21st century. These included:

South Australia

• West Lakes (1970)^[2]
• Golden Grove (1984)^[5]
• Rosewood (1992)^[6]
• Mawson Lakes (1998)^[7]
• Blakes Crossing (2009)^[8]
• Springwood (2010) — development interests sold off January 2016, to be completed by Wel.co.^[9]

References

1. Bain, Jim (2012). Marks, Sir John Hedley Douglas (1916–1982). Australian National University. Retrieved 26 July 2019. first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 18, (MUP), 2012
2. Martin, Brian (2013), Delfin : West Lakes and beyond : a developer's diary, Brian Martin, pp. 24–27 & 30–31, retrieved 21 July 2019
3. "West Lakes Development Act, 1969" (PDF). Government of South Australia. 20 November 1969. pp. 228 & 234. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
4. "Lend Lease buys Delfin". Archived from the original on 13 December 2010. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
5. "S.A. housing project wins world award". Financial Review. 11 May 1998. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
6. "Delfin keeps its house in order". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
7. Ryan, Charmaine (16 November 1998). "Developers Revive the MFP Dream". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
8. "Delfin Lend Lease Blakeview Pty Ltd - Notification - N94550". ACCC. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
9. "Jennings struggles to meet deadline". Australian Financial Review. 24 July 1995. Retrieved 6 December 2023.