Scentre Group has bought a half stake in Garden City mall in Western Australia from an AMP Capital managed fund for A$575m (€354M).
The A$5bn AMP Capital Diversified Property Fund will continue to own the remaining 50% stake in the mall located in southern Perth suburb of Booragoon.
The sale reflects a 3.6% premium to the asset’s most recent valuation.
The centre will be rebranded Westfield Booragoon and management will be transferred to Scentre.
“Opportunities to purchase the best assets like Booragoon are rare,” said Peter Allen, CEO of Scentre Group.
He said Westfield Booragoon had a strong catchment area, with total annual retail expenditure per capita 19% above the average for Perth.
“This acquisition follows the transactions we executed earlier in the year which released A$2.1bn of capital allowing it to pursue strategic and long-term value-creating opportunities such as this one today,” said Allen.
Brett Williams, fund manager of AMP Capital Diversified Property Fund said that this outcome followed an extensive sale process with a number of domestic and international investors.
“This is an excellent outcome for our investors,” said Williams. “Encouraged by recent investor appetite in high-quality shopping centres, our strategy was to introduce a joint venture partner to reduce asset concentration and provide further diversification for our investors,” he said.
AMP Capital has approval for a A$750m redevelopment of the asset that would expand its footprint from 72,000sqm to 120,000sqm.
AMP Capital and Scentre have a long-established partnership in co-owning centres including Liverpool, Southland, Tea Tree Plaza, and Warringah Mall, all of which are located in Sydney.
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