Singaporeans strike deal to buy Sydney warehouse from Pelligra

The site lies within Yennora’s industrial precinct and was part of a larger 32-hectare industrial holding which LOGOS acquired in 2015 and later subdivided.

Property records show Larapinta Project Pty Ltd, a company owned and directed by Pelligra chairman Ross Pelligra, paid $8.8 million for the site in 2017.

CBRE negotiated the sale, but declined to comment.

Ascendas Funds Management chief executive William Tay said the acquisition gives Ascendas REIT greater exposure to the Sydney market and enhances the quality of its portfolio.

“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Sydney continues to be the strongest industrial market in Australia underpinned by robust tenant demand and sustained levels of investor interest,” Mr Tay said.

Ascendas REIT is Singapore’s largest listed business space and industrial real estate investment trust, and a subsidiary of Asian real estate giant Capitaland.

The trust’s portfolio comprises 197 properties in Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In Australia, Ascendas REIT owns logistics and suburban office properties in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

Last year, the trust paid $110.9 million to buy a new eight-level building in Melbourne’s south-east that will serve as the new national headquarters for car maker Nissan.

In its statement to the Singapore Exchange, Ascendas REIT said the acquisition of the Yennora land had been completed with the warehouse development expected to complete in the second quarter of 2021.

“The purchase consideration of $23.5 million, which comprises the land and development cost, is 19.8 per cent lower than the ‘as if complete’ market valuation of the property ($29.3 million as at 30 June 2020),” said Ascendas REIT.

The warehouse is expected to generate a net yield for the first year of about 6.2 per cent pre-transaction costs and 5.8 per cent post-transaction costs.

It sold with a 12-month rental guarantee.

“The property is well located in the established inner-western Sydney industrial precinct of Yennora, an area that is enjoying renewed growth given its proximity to central western Sydney and the trend towards last-mile logistics,” the trust said.