This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
SINGAPORE-listed Straits Trading Company is the latest major player to gain a foothold in Melbourne’s south eastern commercial hub of Mulgrave.
The trust, an indirect 80%-owned subsidiary of Straits Real Estate Pte. Ltd. (SREPL), has through its wholly-owned subsidiary entered into a contract to buy an office and industrial property with a total net lettable area of 12,157 sqm for $24 million.
Last year, Straits Trading acquired a portfolio of five industrial properties across Australia, as well as a 37,970 sqm parcel of land for mixed-use office and warehouse facility development in South Australia, via SREPL. The company said the Mulgrave acquisition marks the continuing expansion of the portfolio.
The figure is in line with a JLL valuation conducted during September and consideration will be satisfied by internal funds and bank borrowings.
Mulgrave, located approximately 21 kilometres south east of the Melbourne CBD, has been active in the transactional and development spaces of late. Centuria Diversified Property Fund acquired an office building in the suburb for $27.8 million for its first purchase in Victoria.
The two freestanding A-grade quality office buildings are located within the heart of the Monash Office and Technology Precinct, and the property is a 100% leased with a 3.3-year WALE underpinned to Tyco / Johnson Controls, PZ Cussons, Service Stream and local home builder Carter Grange.
Another Singaporean group, Ascendas REIT, paid $110.9 million for Nissan’s new national headquarters and an electric vehicle technical training centre on an attractive yield of 5.7%.
The property is under construction and was bought from joint venture partners, Frasers Property Australia and ESR, which had signed the world’s ninth largest automotive group to the $400 million business park only three months earlier.
Nissan’s new HQ will comprise an eight level corporate office, workshop, café, end-of-trip facilities with a net lettable area of 17,507 sqm, and multi-level car parking for 911 vehicles, on 11,113 sqm of land.
In September, Salta Properties commenced construction of more than 22,000 sqm and $5 million worth of upgrades and services as part of the next stage for its $1 billion Nexus business park in Melbourne’s Mulgrave, and also acquired an adjoining 2,957 sqm property as part of its expansion plans.
