Queensland malls spark investor interest
ASX-listed players including Centuria, Home Consortium and SCA Property are taking a close look at a $500 million portfolio of five neighbourhood malls up for grabs in south-east Queensland, signalling a fresh wave of institutional interest in retail real estate.
The portfolio, controlled by Melbourne investment house CVS Lane and Don O’Rorke’s Consolidated Properties Group, hit the market in July. Offers on the assets, either individually or as an entire portfolio, were due last week.
Among those keen on the five-asset portfolio are prominent fund managers which have plenty of firepower, according to market sources. Centuria’s takeover of Perth platform Primewest last year brought with it a mandate from Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC to invest in daily needs. That mandate has another $300 million or so still to be invested after already being deployed this year for an acquisition.
Home Consortium, the platform established by David Di Pilla and his co-investors initially as a property trust holding the former Masters stores, has since transformed into a pure-play fund manager and is racing towards a $10 billion pool of assets under management.
The platform has proven itself adept at creating separate portfolios to spin off and float, including its Daily Needs REIT.
From its side, SCA Property has proven itself highly acquisitive, with a string of purchases over the past year. That purchasing power has been boosted through its own expansion into funds management, including the establishment of a $750 million joint venture with GIC.
The portfolio up for grabs from CVS Lane and Consolidated Properties comprises around 65,000 square metres of retail space in total. All five assets are in separate trusts, with multiple investors in each, which CVS Lane and CPG manage.
JLL’s Jacob Swan and Sam Hatcher and CBRE’s Joe Tynan and Simon Rooney are brokering the portfolio.
CVS Lane, a family office-style investment platform backed by the wealthy Liberman family, and CPG, a prominent Queensland developer led by industry veteran Mr O’Rorke, put together the portfolio by buying existing neighbourhood centres then redeveloping them.
As offers are being weighed for that portfolio and its individual assets, smaller retail assets in Queensland are also finding favour, such as the retail, medical and fuel complex at Flagstone, 50 kilometres south-west of Brisbane, which has been sold for $25.35 million.
It was sold by an offshore player to a local private investor on a yield of 5.4 per cent. Savills’ Peter Tyson and Michael Harcourt brokered the transaction.
Meanwhile, in Albury, on the NSW and Victorian border, the heritage-listed Mates Centre has been sold for close to $17 million to a Melbourne family by a local syndicate which purchased the asset in 2011.
Stonebridge Property Group together with local agent L.J. Colquhoun Dixon brokered the property.
The Mates Centre dates back to 1850. It is occupied by tenants including JB Hi Fi, Lincraft, TK Maxx and Cheap as Chips and generates an income of $1.25 million annually.
