This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
US investor Hines is ramping up its Australian activities in a big way – this time landing a share of Westpoint Shopping Centre in a blockbuster $900 million deal that marks the nation’s largest-ever single-asset retail transaction.
Hines partnered up with fund manager Haben in the Blacktown mall purchase, from sunshine state government fund manager Queensland Investment Corporation., in a deal that has been flagged for some time.
The previous title holder was Brisbane’s Indooroopilly Centre, which traded late in 2017 for $810 million.
Westpoint Shopping Centre boasts 110,000 sqm of retail space and is anchored by a triple-supermarket offering in Woolworths, Coles and Aldi. It also has a Hoyts cinemas, discount department chains Kmart, Target, and Big W, as well as Uniqlo, JB Hi-Fi, and Rebel, amongst a number of others.
“Westpoint Shopping Centre is a significant asset offering core retail and mixed-use zoning in one of Sydney’s fastest-growing metro areas,” said Haben managing director and co-founder Ben Finger.
“This acquisition presents a strategic opportunity to partner with Hines on their first Australian retail acquisition, establishing one of the largest retail partnerships in Australia,” he said.
“Haben are pleased to take over the management and have a strong belief in the resilience and potential of the Australian retail market. We greatly look forward to continuing to grow Westpoint Shopping Centre alongside its expanding demographic.”
Michael Fattouh, fund manager of QIC Town Centre Fund, said the deal “reflects performance driven by 34 years of active management”.
“From introducing an integrated bus station to revitalising the fresh food market and delivering a new dining and entertainment precinct, we are immensely proud of Westpoint’s evolution, and it is only fitting that its sale is the retail deal of the year,” he said.
“This sale, while still subject to Foreign Investment Board Approval approval, further showcases QIC’s ability to not only drive performance through active management, but to also deliver successful transactions on behalf of investors when the time is right.”
QIC has been busy selling down major retail assets. It has just lobbed Woodgrove Shopping Centre in Melbourne’s growing outer west up for sale with expectations of half a billion dollars, and it has just offloaded its half-share in Perth’s Claremont Quarter in a $207 million deal with co-owner, commercial property company Hawaiian.
On the buy side, Hines is continuing to snap up assets down under. It has just teamed up with Canadian pension fund Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to snap up two assets in Brisbane’s growing build-to-rent market in a circa $350 million deal. They are party to a $1.5 billion build-to-rent fund.
Hines also has a Collingwood office development that will be the tallest timber building in Melbourne, while at the end of last year it collected two logistics buildings on a 4.1-hectare site on the Gold Coast.
Retail recovery
More broadly, the transaction continues a return to form for the retail sector, which has undergone a repricing period and, with an interest rate cut perhaps on the horizon, buyers and sellers are now seeing eye-to-eye.
The recent major deals have seen JY Group’s $195 million acquisition of a half-stake in Westfield Whitford City from Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, Scentre Group and Barrenjoey confirming their $174.75 million purchase of a half-stake in Adelaide’s Westfield West Lakes on the back of their buy of a 50% interest in Westfield Tea Tree Plaza for $308 million, while Vicinity Centres nabbed a 50% stake in Lakeside Joondalup.
Westpoint Shopping Centre was sold through Colliers’ Lachlan MacGillivray.
“The asset possesses all the key attributes investors are seeking: a large Sydney metro landholding, proximity to major roads, and co-location with a train station and bus interchange,” he said.
