The Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) has bought a US shopping centre for a “major Australian client”.
The investment manager said it paid $174m (€157m) for The Shops at Tanforan in the San Francisco Bay Area.
QIC has advised AustralianSuper on its investments in the US. Earlier this year, QIC assisted the supperannuation scheme in the purchase of a 25% stake in Honolulu’s Ala Moana Centre for around $1.1bn.
The Tanforan deal is QIC’s first purchase in the US on a 100% basis – foreign investors in the US have typically taken the more tax-efficient route of buying minority stakes.
The 970,000sqft Tanforan shopping centre, in San Bruno, California, was sold by Breevast.
It is the 10th US retail property QIC has bought on behalf of Australian clients in the past 18 months.
Matthew Strotton, head of US funds and investments for QIC, said: “The US market is opportunity-rich, and the combination of QIC’s on-the-ground office in Los Angeles and teams around the world will continue to enable us to source high quality assets for our clients.”
QIC agreed a $2bn US real estate joint venture with Forest City Enterprises to invest in a portfolio of eight regional retail malls in the US owned by the REIT in 2013.
