Allianz Real Estate and Charter Hall have extended their Australia industrial real estate investment venture with the acquisition of a A$281.5m (€169bn) portfolio.

Charter Hall said the 50:50 joint venture between Charter Hall Prime Industrial Fund and Allianz has bought the two distribution centre assets in Derrimut, Melbourne and Staplyton-Yatala, expanding on the venture’s initial A$648m acquisition in June.

The 106,614sqm portfolio, let to German grocer Aldi, has the potential for future development expansion or reconfiguration to future proof the assets, Charter Hall said.

David Harrison, managing director and group CEO of Charter Hall said: “Accessing the on-going growth and resilience of grocery retailing in Australia has been a consistent thematic driving the strength of our Industrial and Logistics portfolio, which now totals more than A$11.5bn.

“This additional ALDI leased portfolio of assets cements our position as the largest owner of grocery-anchored distribution centres in Australia, with a A$3.5bn portfolio leased to all four major supermarket anchors.”

Allianz Real Estate Asia Pacific CEO, Rushabh Desai, said: “Investing in logistics is a high conviction global theme for us. In the Asia-Pacific region, we have an exposure of over US$2.4bn to logistics across Australia, Japan, China, and India. We value our long-standing relationship with Charter Hall, and we are very excited to partner with them again on the second tranche of ALDI logistics assets.”

To read the digital edition of the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here.