Charter Hall and GIC have today confirmed the acquisition of a 15-storey office building in Parramatta in southeastern Australia.
In September, IPE Real Assets reported that Charter Hall and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund had teamed to buy the Jessie Street Centre from Brookfield Properties for around A$420m (€261m), citing people familiar with the matter.
The 53,900sqm Jessie Street Centre, which offers office building with supporting retail offers, is 99.9% occupied.
Confirming the deal, Charter Hall Group managing director and CEO, David Harrison said this strategic acquisition further strengthens a well-established 15-year partnership with GIC who recognise Charter Hall’s strong track record of creating institutional quality investment opportunities that “we can add value to utilising the second-largest office platform in Australia with approximately A$18bn of property assets.”
“We are also proud to advance our relationship with the Australian Taxation Office as a major tenant customer, which further increases our exposure to the Australian Government and also the NSW Government across our office portfolio,” Harrison said.
Lee Kok Sun, CIO of GIC Real Estate, said Parramatta is expected to benefit from Sydney’s forecast population growth and planned infrastructure enhancements such as a new metro line to the Sydney central business district and a light rail link.
“As a long-term value investor, we are confident this asset will generate resilient, income-driven returns. We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Charter Hall through this transaction and working together to add value to this asset.”
Trent James, fund manager, Charter Hall, said this is a rare opportunity to acquire a high quality, A-grade office asset situated on a significant 13,530sqm site within the Parramatta central business district.
“The ongoing transformation of Parramatta will see it as a genuine second CBD and is likely to surpass North Sydney as Sydney’s largest metropolitan CBD market.
“This investment demonstrates our ongoing long-term support of Western Sydney.”
