Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC has sold a half stake in Sydney’s iconic Chifley Tower office block in the heart of Sydney to two wholesale funds managed by Charter Hall Group for around A$900m (€540m).
The A$5.3bn Charter Hall Prime Office Fund (CPOF) and the recently launched Deep Value Property Fund (DVP), which is backed by two Australian superannuation funds, have formed a partnership with GIC to own the building.
GIC, which first offered a half stake in the building for sale last year and then withdrew it last November, continues to own the remaining half interest.
In a statement today, Charter Hall said it would assume the asset and property management of the entire tower, increasing the group’s funds under management by approximately A$1.8bn to more than A$33bn.
Charter Hall group managing director and CEO David Harrison said the off-market transaction reflected the company’s 15-year relationship with GIC.
“We have used our diversified funds platform to bring two of our wholesale funds/partnerships together to form a joint venture with GIC to own one of Australia’s pre-eminent premium-grade office towers situated on arguably the best prime CBD site in Sydney,” he added.
Charter Hall Group has a weighted average stake across CPOF and DVP of 8%.
Chifley Tower, which has panoramic views of Sydney and its harbour, offers 68,867sqm of lettable space, including over 5,000sqm of retail.
The property is secured by a 4.3-year weighted-average lease expiry, weighted-average rent reviews of 3.8%, and is 98.3% occupied by tenants including UBS, Investec, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Morgan Stanley Australia.
In December last year, CPOF paid for A$98.5m for a 100% interest in the freehold title to the site on which Chifley Tower and 2 Chifley Square sit.
In 2005, GIC bought Chifley Tower and Plaza and the Royal Pines Resort on the Queensland Gold Coast jointly with Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing for about A$800m from the then-troubled Japanese investor Matsushita Investment & Development.
