This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
LANDMARK stakes in the Pacific Fair Shopping Centre and the Macquarie Centre are entering the market, as Dexus offers the first super regional shopping centre since 2019.
The 20% interest in the Pacific Fair Shopping Centre on the Gold Coast and the 25% interest in Macquarie Centre in Sydney are expected to attract leading national retail owner managers, institutional funds and international investors.
The stakes were, until its recent merger with Dexus, held in the AMP Capital Diversified Property Fund.
Simon Rooney from CBRE, as well as Nick Willis and Sam Hatcher from JLL, have been appointed by the Dexus Wholesale Property Fund to manage the expressions of interest campaign for the shares.
“The positive turnaround in institutional investor sentiment and capital reallocation back to retail is in its early stages, but clearly evident and is centred on assets which are considered the “best of the best – criteria clearly met by Pacific Fair and Macquarie Centre,” said Rooney, head of retail capital markets at CBRE.
According to CBRE, the last transaction in this market sector were the late 2019 sales of a 50% stake Westfield Marion in South Australia for $670 million to Singapore Press Holdings and a 50% stake in Garden City Booragoon in Western Australia for $575 million to Scentre Group.
“We have seen a material rebasing in retail asset values over the past 12 to 18 months, together with a ‘mark to market’ rental reset. This, combined with monthly sales and traffic growth and the historically attractive retail yields on offer, is clearly compelling – presenting a real window of opportunity for major domestic and offshore investors,” added Rooney.
The 150,000sqm Pacific Fair Shopping Centre underwent a $670 million refurbishment back in 2016 and is the country’s fifth largest shopping centre by GLA and is within the top 10 performers with over $890 in MAT.
While the 135,000sqm Macquarie Centre is Sydney’s first formal offering of a super-regional centre in more than 19-years and offers medium-term mixed used development potential to investors, with approval for 148,000sqm of gross floor area.
“Pacific Fair and Macquarie Centre are two of Australia’s leading retail destinations. They are more than just shopping centres – their scale and integration in the market make them core pieces of infrastructure that shape their respective markets,” said Willis.
“Retail has performed well coming out of lockdowns, and the best quality assets will continue to outperform. The opportunity to acquire a top 1% asset, regardless of the real estate sector, is very rare; this is one of those opportunities,” concluded Willis.