Tweed Hub part of $60m retail sale
Aventus has capped an impressive Christmas period for Australia’s retail property market, selling a shopping centre portfolio in regional Victoria and New South Wales.
In a festive season rush, the group offloaded large format centre Shepparton Home and convenience centre Tweed Hub to separate buyers for a combined $60.1 million , reflecting a weighted yield of around 7.42%.
The price was also a 6.5% over the assets’ book values at June 30.
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Anchored by Fantastic Furniture, Shepparton Home is an important retail destination in the Shepparton region, with a gross lettable area of 13,661sqm, seven large format stores and parking for 417 cars.
Tweed Hub is of similar standing in the northern New South Wales coastal town of Tweed Heads, with The Good Guys and 1st Choice Liquor Superstore among 15 large format, convenience and service-based tenants.
The centre occupies a large and large 26,200sqm site about 35km south-east of the Gold Coast and 105km south-east of the Brisbane CBD.
Aventus Property Group CEO Darren Holland says the sale is a calculated move as the group moves away from its smaller retail assets.
Shepparton Home Centre was sold by Aventus.
“The sale of these two centres is in line with our strategy to divest smaller regional centres as opportunities arise in order to maintain balance sheet strength and lower AVN’s gearing,” Holland says.
“Following the acquisitions of Castle Hill and Marsden Park in May 2017 for $436 million, we advised that we would implement capital management initiatives to ensure we had flexibility to continue to enhance the value and quality of AVN’s portfolio. We are pleased to have contracted the sale of these centres at a premium to the 30 June 2017 book value.”
JLL’s Simon Rooney, Stuart Taylor and David Mathews facilitated the deal, with Rooney saying
“It has been a very active year for the large format retail sector, with the most notable transaction being Home Hub Castle Hill and Home Hub Marsden Park being sold by JLL for $436 million earlier this year,” he says.
Mathews says the properties were keenly contested.
“The portfolio attracted a strong level of interest from institutional investors, syndicators and high net worth individuals as a result of the assets being dominant within their respective catchments with a strong tenant profile of primarily national tenants.”
