Perth-based Primewest is to launch a new unlisted A$300m (€183m) Australian “daily needs” neighbourhood retail property trust under a new institutional mandate.
John Bond, Primewest’s executive chairman, declined to comment on the identity of the institution saying that he was bound by a confidentiality agreement.
In a statement, Bond said the new trust would acquire up to A$300m of retail assets across several states, with a pipeline of potential opportunities.
It has contracted to buy its first asset, the Spring Farm Centre in Sydney’s southern suburbs from supermarket chain Woolworths.
Bond said COVID-19 had shone a light on a number of highly-successful retail assets that had continued to perform well during the crisis, due to their strong tenant mix that focussed on non-discretionary/services-based retailers with a focus on ‘daily-needs’.
“This made a new retail trust highly attractive, especially given the defensive nature of the Spring Farm centre, which had proved to be very resilient and therefore highly attractive as an investment,” said Bond.
The listed Primewest has more than A$4.2bn of assets under management across all mainland states of Australia and the west coast of the US.
Primewest currently runs the Primewest Counter-Cyclical Trust for Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC.
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