SCA Property Group, an Australian company, has purchased 10 sub-regional shopping centres from Vicinity Centres for AUD573m (€355m).

SCA said the transaction will partly be funded through an institutional placement to raise AUD259m - and the sale of its stake Charter Hall Retail REIT in the next 12 months.

Following the acquisition, SCA will own and manage more than AUD3.1bn of convenience-based shopping centres, making it the largest convenience-based retail specialist in Australia.

Vicinity also sold one centre to a private investor for AUD58m, bringing the total in this round of its divestment of non-core assets to AUD631m.

Since it began its divestment programme in 2015 following the merger of two retail real estate investment trusts, Vicinity has disposed of 35 shopping centres for more than AUD2.5bn.

Grant Kelley, Vicinity’s CEO and managing director, said: “These transactions are a significant achievement, and advance our strategy to unlock major potential in the business.”

Kelley said the group’s strategy is to focus on about 50 “market-leading destination” assets, expanding wholesale funds platform and realising mixed-use opportunities across the portfolio.

Discussions are progressing with prospective purchasers of three remaining assets included in Vicinity’s divestment programme, Vicinity said.

In August, Vicinity and Singapore’s Keppel Capital partnered to inject AUD1bn worth of shopping centres into a new joint venture trust.

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