The Lendlease managed Australia Prime Property Fund (APPF) Retail fund has put its 50% share in the Westfield Carindale shopping centre, most recently valued at A$850m (€514.5m), up for sale.

APPF Retail is moving to sell the asset in Brisbane as it continues to raise equity to meet redemption requests totalling more than A$2bn.

Carindale is the second APPF Retail asset to be sold. Last year, its 50% stake in Westfield Marion in South Australia was acquired for A$670m by the Singapore-listed SPH Reit.

The remaining 50% interest in the Brisbane centre is owned by Carindale Property Trust (CDP).

CBRE’s head of retail capital markets – Pacific, Simon Rooney, said demand for core retail assets was increasing, primarily from major offshore investors, who saw that Australian retail had been oversold.

“This is presenting highly-strategic opportunities to acquire assets which provide accretive, sustainable returns and a diversified income and asset base,” said Rooney.

Colliers International head of retail investment services, Luke MacGillivray, said the centre’s low site utilisation and the opportunity for intensified development, including residential, commercial, short-term accommodation and retail expansion, would help drive considerable buyer interest.

As APPF Retail continues to work through a queue of investors seeking to reduce or sell out of the fund, it has simultaneously drawn up a new strategy, hoping to persuade some investors to revoke their redemptions requests.

APPF Retail plans to transform some of the centres in its A$5bn shopping centre portfolio into 24-hour mixed-use precincts, to make use of surplus land around the complexes.

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