This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
FORMER Queensland premier, Campbell Newman has emerged as the purchaser of two A.P. Eagers car dealerships in Tasmania, moments before they were scheduled to go to auction in April.
They were among seven A.P. Eagers car dealerships across the state put to the market by Marcus Birrell in a Burgess Rawson portfolio event in Melbourne. Four sold on the day for a total of $30 million, with the Launceston and Devonport sites going to Newman’s investment firm Arcana Capital for a combined $16.4 million.
The Launceston site, at 170 Elizabeth Street, covers 7,428 sqm and sold for $11.299 million at a 7.75% yield, and the 12,660 sqm site at 1 Don Road in Devonport sold for $5.1 million, at 8.61%.
A Hobart-based investor paid $3 million for the 3,996 sqm Glenorchy site at 270 Main Road, and a Melbourne investor picked up the 3.027-hectare 8c Lampton Avenue in Derwent Park for more than of $10 million.
Around $50 million was anticipated from all seven assets, each offered with 10-year leases until 2026 with five-year options.
Birrell was the long-term chairman of Birrell Motors Group until he sold the business to ASX-listed A.P. Eagers Group – of which he is now a director – in 2015 for $114 million.
