This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
CHARTER Hall has added more assets to its fast-growing industrial portfolio, picking up two South Australian government-leased facilities in Adelaide for over $100 million and taking acquisitions in the sector to nearly $900 million in just over three months.
Charter Hall-managed fund DIF4 has paid $30.7 million for a brand new warehouse and office in Gepps Cross, purpose-built for SA Health, on an initial yield of 4.9%.
The state’s health department has a 15-year net lease with fixed reviews.
“We are pleased to be expanding DIF4’s spread to prime, modern industrial real estate, with the addition of a high quality, purpose-built asset leased to the South Australian government, which is a major tenant customer across our industrial & logistics and office portfolios in metropolitan Adelaide,” Charter Hall Direct fund manager, Julian Menegazzo said, adding that Gepps Cross is extremely well-positioned with respect to the arterial road and freight network.
“This acquisition is in line with our strategy and will provide us stable income growth and is nearby to other major Charter Hall modern assets leased to Metcash and Schneider.”
The purchase follows DIF4’s recent $49 million acquisition of a Bunnings warehouse facility in Munno Para West.
In addition, Charter Hall Prime Industrial Fund (CPIF) has acquired an industrial complex at Netley Commercial Park, next to Adelaide Airport, for $71.3 million, reflecting an initial yield of 4.5%.
Currently leased to the South Australian government, the 13.47-hectare site is one of the largest industrial parcels in the area and offers redevelopment upside in the medium to long term.
CPIF fund manager, Richard Mason, said the asset aligns well with the fund’s strategy, underpinned by a government tenant and high underlying land value providing significant upside potential over the long-term
“It will benefit from the planned redevelopment of the Airport East Logistics Hub, with a number of tenant customers expressing interest in relocating to the precinct,” he said.
The transactions were brokered off-market, by Jack Pershouse of CBRE at Netley Commercial Park and Andrew Zammit of Leedwell Property for Gepps Cross.
Acquistive streak
Charter Hall has been one of the most active players in the sector, which has undergone a rare boom resulting from growth in e-commerce and logistics demand during the pandemic. The property powerhouse has now bought up over $900 million in industrial and logistics assets in the current financial year, taking the group’s portfolio funds under management in the sector to over $17 billion.
The bulk of that was picked up in August’s $560 million purchase of a portfolio of 17 assets along the eastern seaboard leased to tenants including Australia Post, Toll, Kmart and state government agencies.
The deal followed $2.7 billion of industrial and logistics asset acquisitions over the 2021 financial year.
Among those were several sale and leaseback deals, such as a portfolio of 25 cold storage and food distribution centres in a $270 million deal with PFD Food Services and a pair of Patties Foods sites Victoria for $141 million.
In partnership with Allianz Real Estate it last year bought six Aldi distribution centres over two transactions for $930 million.
