MPG buys Traralgon EPA building for regional property fund
Property fund manager MPG has snapped up a state government-tenanted office building in Traralgon in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley for $11.8 million for its unlisted regional property fund.
In an off-market deal MPG acquired 8-12 Seymour Street, a 2742 square metre building tenanted by the Department of Health and Human Services and Environmental Protection Authority Victoria on a yield of 7.35 per cent.
The vendor was the privately-owned Stirloch Group, an engineering and property development company with offices in Traralgon.
The EPA Building in Traralgon will form part of a regional property fund.
In September, MPG, which grew out of the McMullin Group established in the 1970s by the late Spotless founder Ian McMullin, launched a $66.4 million regional property fund that will own commercial property in regional hubs such as Newcastle, Bendigo, Armidale and Maryborough.
It sought to raise a minimum of $25 million from retail investors for the open-ended fund, which is forecast to deliver a 7 per cent initial annual return.
“All the properties have been carefully selected in growing regional locations for their defensive income streams and potential for capital growth,” said MPG director Brett Gorman. “They are new or near-new and are located in areas targeted for infrastructure improvements and population growth.”
The sale of the EPA building was negotiated by Marc Leiba and Jonathan Rosenthal of Leiba Commercial alongside Alex Ham of Gross Waddell and Grant Williams of Keith Williams Real Estate.
“There is always strong demand for quality-built property with long-term leases to the government nationally,” Mr Leiba said.
Following the launch of the regional fund, MPG paid $44.65 million for a new Bunnings outlet at Port Macquarie in NSW with the deal struck on a blended yield of 5.64 per cent.
In March, MPG bought the Tweed Hub homemaker centre in Tweed Heads from listed landlord Aventus for $40 million.
In December 2016, it scooped up a 2500 square metre Coles supermarket in the NSW Southern Highlands for $9.45 million, on a gross yield of 5.9 per cent.
