Australasian real estate fund manager Centuria Capital has bought a glasshouse for $168m (€94m) for its open-ended unlisted Centuria Agriculture Fund (CAF) from Fresh Country Farms of Australia.
The asset is Australia’s largest hydroponic glasshouse facility and increases Centuria’s agricultural portfolio by 25% to more than 150 hectares of glasshouse assets and over 160 hectares of protected cropping agriculture. The agriculture portfolio is now worth A$A820m.
The 43ha glasshouse facility in Two Wells, South Australia, is operated by Perfection Fresh, a fresh produce business, on a 17.4-year triple-net lease.
Jason Huljich, Centuria joint CEO, said: “We have grown Centuria’s Agriculture AUM and capabilities as part of a deliberate strategy to seed alternative real estate asset classes that appeal to our investors, are well supported by attractive themes, and provide a long runway for further growth.
“Centuria is leading domestic institutional agriculture real estate investment with a bias towards sustainable farming infrastructure that aims to deliver high produce yields to meet rising demand from Australia’s expanding population.”
Andrew Essey, Centuria CIO, said the Two Wells glasshouse facility was a “trophy” asset - the largest in Australia and the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. He added: “Centuria will continue to seek convincing investment opportunities across the agricultural property market, which harness persistent sector tailwinds.”
Andrew Tout, Centuria head of agriculture, added: “This acquisition delivers full diversity of Australia’s top tenant covenants and strengthens our geographic spread across the country’s premier glasshouse growing regions.”
Since its inception in 2022, CAF’s portfolio has grown to A$629m across six fully leased assets, all featuring a long average weighted lease expiry of 16.2 years.
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