Charter Hall Group has acquired hardware retail outlets and industrial sites totalling AUD287m (€189m) for two of its unlisted wholesale funds.

It has bought six outlets for about AUD187m for its Long WALE Hardware Partnership (LWHP), lifting total assets in the fund to roughly AUD980m.

LWHP also struck a deal to let the outlets to Australia’s largest hardware chain, Bunnings, on 12-year leases.

The off-market transaction was secured at a 10% discount to independent valuations.

Charter Hall managing director and CEO, David Harrison, said acquisition of the hardware outlet portfolio aligned with the existing LWHP strategy.

Harrison said it would increase the weighting by both income and value towards well-located metropolitan locations, while increasing exposure to high-quality retail assets with strong tenant covenant customers.

Charter Hall has also acquired three industrial sites for about AUD100m from the Malaysian group Sime Darby, for the Charter Hall Prime Industrial Fund. 

The Charter Hall Prime Industrial Fund recently raised AUD300m to grow its portfolio of 48 properties, which now stands at AUD2.4bn.

The sites, located in Queensland, are fully leased to Hastings Deering – a heavy equipment leasing company – on 20-year triple net leases with two 10-year renewal options.

The latest acquisition followed the purchase of Coca-Cola Amatil’s Brisbane property on the market in March for AUD156m.

Charter Hall is the most acquisitive of Australian REIT managers, accounting for almost 13% of all transactions in Australia. 

The group was responsible for transactions amounting to AUD5.2bn in the last financial year. So far this year, it has transacted just over AUD1bn in property deals.

Earlier this week, Charter Hall told investors it had raised more than AUD2.3bn across its listed and unlisted vehicles. Its unlisted funds raised a total of AUD1.3bn.

It said that offshore investors from 14 countries in four regions of the world accounted for more than 50% of the inflows. 

The company said global investors were looking for opportunities to co-invest and form partnerships.

Capital flows from Europe and North America had increased and Charter Hall was attracting fresh interest from Japan and Korea, the company said.

Last financial year, Charter Hall raised AUD460m from Europe and North America, compared with less than AUD190m the previous year.

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