GIC-backed Dexus Australian Logistics Trust (DALT) has bought an industrial asset in Queensland for A$85m (€55m) from the Australian Unity Diversified Property Fund.

Chris Mackenzie, head of industrial development, told IPE Real Assets: “In an extremely competitive environment, we have been active in acquiring industrial product across the spectrum to satisfy customer demand.

“Our speed of delivery to market of leased up, premium industrial facilities in key locations is helping Dexus and its capital partners to meet their growth mandates,” he said. “We have done a range of other recent deals, which has increased our industrial development pipeline to A$1.5bn.”

The multi-tenanted Richlands facility has 53,000sqm of gross lettable area.

It was a seed asset of the Australian Unity fund when it was launched in 2006.

Nikki Panagopoulos, fund manager of the Diversified Property Fund, said the sale capitalised on the market’s strong demand for well-located industrial assets.

“Industrial property, which currently comprises about 17% of the fund’s direct property portfolio, has been a stand-out performer since the onset of the pandemic, with demand for warehousing space surging to unprecedented levels in line with growth in e-commerce,” she said.

Panagopoulous said the focus for the fund in 2021 was to continue to execute on its neighbourhood shopping centre development pipeline while identifying acquisition opportunities for service-oriented assets.

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