$21m windfall as Quintessential carves up Sydney property

A decision to subdivide a tract of industrial land in south-west Sydney just two years after buying it has reaped Melbourne-based property fund manager Quintessential Equity a huge windfall.

Little more than two years after acquiring the A-grade industrial property at Ingleburn for $13.8 million, Quintessential has finalised the last of a series of deals that will see it pocket almost $35 million after carving up the land.

The third and final 43,178sqm lot at the industrial site at 1 Inglis Rd, 44km south-west of the Sydney CBD, sold to international asset manager M&G for $29.75 million, just months after two smaller lots sold for $5.198 million.

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The larger block is home to the only building on the entire landholding – a 9928sqm warehouse leased to Schneider Electric, which covers about 15% of the site.

The warehouse will be refurbished and expanded to more than 17,500sqm as part of a new 12-year lease to the energy management company.

The two smaller lots measure 9042sqm and 13,460sqm.

The subdivided site sold for almost $35 million combined.

Quintessential Equity COO, Russell Bullen, says the decision to split up the site in late 2015 yielded far greater returns than would have been achievable had it remained a single landholding.

“By consolidating, subdividing and upgrading the site, we have optimised the potential of the property,” Bullen says.

“The division of the site into three distinct lots has also enabled us to better manage the site, provide higher quality facilities for tenants and increase investor returns.”

Colliers International’s national director Gavin Bishop negotiated the latest sale, and says investors are increasingly casting their eyes to Sydney’s west as they chase bigger returns.

“Increased interest in this market has been driven by the significant investment in infrastructure by Government, such as, the Moorebank Intermodal, widening of the M5 Motorway and Badgerys Creek Airport,” he says.

“Ingleburn in particular is one of the most undervalued suburbs in western Sydney and the market is focused on getting a presence in this location to take advantage of the strong rental and capital growth expected in the future.”