Werdigers take control of CBD assets in family deal
Melbourne’s Financial Review Rich Lister family the Werdigers have quietly completed a restructure of the wider family’s property holdings involving a group of CBD landmarks thought to be worth close to $900 million in total.
The family deal sees the Werdigers’ Juilliard Group take full control of three CBD properties: two office towers on Collins Street along with the mixed use St James complex which commands a corner of Bourke and William Streets.
All three properties had been held in a joint venture vehicle co-owned by the Werdigers and their cousins the Lederman family. Under the arrangement completed last week, the Werdiger wing of the family, now led by Shlomo Werdiger, have bought out the Ledermans’ half stake in the holdings in a deal worth north of $400 million.
“This investment is a welcome addition to the Werdiger family’s significant commercial, industrial and retail property portfolio on the eastern seaboard as we see many opportunities to proactively maximise the value of these landmark properties,” a source close to the family told The Australian Financial Review.
The joint partnership had recently completed a $120 million revamp of the St James complex at 535-555 Bourke Street, a retail and office precinct on the corner of William Street.
A block away is the twin-tower property on the corner of Collins and William Street. The towers at 459 Collins Street were built in 1972 and 1990 and subsequently upgraded.
Nearby is a 20,000 square-metre tower at 440 Collins Street that was opened in 1965.
The acquisition is the result of a market process led by Flagstaff Partners’ Tony Burgess which began last year. It was supported by Juilliard’s longstanding relationship with banker NAB. The family was advised by Ashley Poke at PwC Legal.
The two wings of the family had moved to separate their interests following the death four years ago of Nathan Werdiger, a Holocaust survivor, who had great success in Australia’s post-war textiles trade and then established the family’s property empire.
The Werdigers’ half stake in the three-asset portfolio was offered to the Ledermans and the broader market, drawing strong bids from powerful players including Blackstone, Investa, and ISPT.
Through the process, institutional bids for the entire portfolio emerged, but in the end it was the Ledermans who elected to sell down their stake to the Werdigers.
It is understood the Juilliard Group will focus on new opportunities for growth as well as divestments where appropriate across the family’s entire portfolio.
Long-standing chief operating officer Philippa Kelly is stepping away from her executive role after 10 years to move into non- executive positions.
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