Australia’s Future Fund and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) have sold their interests in two Australian shopping centres for around AUD500m (€322m) to two separate buyers, after putting them up for sale in June this year.
The two institutions sold a 50% stake in a regional shopping centre, known as Rockingham, in Perth, Western Australia, for around AUD300m to AMP Capital, and a half stake in the Grand Plaza Shopping Centre in Brisbane to an unknown buyer for around AUD200m.
The two centres were held in the closed-ended Vicinity Property Retail Partnership Fund, which was launched in 2010 and is now being wound up.
The Future Fund and CPPIB committed around AUD750m to the Vicinity fund, which had a portfolio of AUD1.1bn, consisting of nine shopping centres across Australia.
The partnership sold one centre earlier this year for AUD175m to a trust controlled by Charter Hall, and, in 2015, it sold the Myer Centre in South Australia’s capital, Adelaide, for AUD288m to Singapore’s Starhill Global REIT.
Neither Vicinity nor AMP Capital would comment on either sale. However, IPE Real Assets confirmed the deals with three separate sources familiar with the transactions. It is understood that the contracts have been exchanged.
Industry sources said AMP Capital acquired the stake in Rockingham Shopping Centre, south of Perth, at a yield of less than 6%.
AMP Capital has been active in the retail sector, acquiring two shopping centres in New South Wales and Queensland in the past three months for a total of AUD241m.
AMP Capital is also described as “the frontrunner” to clinch a stake in a super-regional shopping centre in Queensland, which is expected to fetch as much as AUD1bn.
Vicinity, which manages both the Rockingham Centre and Grand Plaza, will retain its 50% stake in both assets.
