Charter Hall has reached 75% of its asset divestment target for DPF
30/06/2009 - PDF Version Available
Charter Hall has succeeded in reaching 75%, or $31.75 million, of its $50 million asset sale target for the $240 million unlisted Diversified Property Fund (DPF), which is open to retail investors.
Charter Hall announces the sale by auction of the Corio (Geelong) retail property for $9.225 million, which is 65% anchored by a Harvey Norman lease (expiring in September 2010). DPF has now exchanged contracts for $31.6 million of property sales within two months, including this month's announced sale of an $18.3 million, 50% stake in the Fosters Abbotsford portfolio to the Wyllie Group which settled today. The Corio property sold at auction earlier this month and the $4.2 million Mitcham property sold post-auction in May. Both properties were purchased by private investors and are due to settle within six weeks.
Charter Hall's Joint Managing Director, David Harrison, noted that "DPF will use the sale proceeds to retire debt and focus on reducing average interest expense via reduced interest rate hedging, both of which will increase distribution yields to retail investors. We believe this successful asset sale strategy offers a better solution than highly dilutive equity raisings within the un-listed retail market. The short 2 year average lease term of Corio will enhance the DPF 7 year WALE".
Knight Frank and Burgess Rawson negotiated the Corio sale.
