Charter Hall Group named 2018 Best Direct Property group by Zenith

One of Australia’s leading property investment and management groups, Charter Hall Group, has been named the “2018 Direct Property Group” at the Professional Planner I Zenith Fund Awards ceremony in Sydney. This is the third straight year that Charter Hall has won the Direct Property category award following success in 2016 and 2017.

Head of Charter Hall Direct, Steven Bennett said:

“We are pleased to be recognised by leading research house Zenith for our conviction and strategy that has delivered exceptional risk-adjusted returns to our investors. This award is a testament to the Charter Hall Direct team that seeks to provide investors with market leading Australian direct property investment opportunities that are usually only available to wholesale investors.”

Our flagship fund for the Charter Hall Direct business is the Direct Office Fund (DOF), which has a 12-year track record. This unlisted property fund invests in a diversified and growing portfolio of high quality Australian office properties. DOF currently comprises a portfolio of 12 office buildings in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth valued at $1.5 billion, that has over a 99% occupancy rate and an industry-leading WALE (weighted average lease expiry) for a diversified office portfolio of 8.4years.

Bennett noted, “We continue to witness strong interest in all four of our direct property funds that are currently open for investment".

The Charter Hall Direct Industrial Fund No.4, known as DIF4, is attracting investor attention in part because of its exposure to the digital economy through the provision of logistics, or warehousing and distribution centres and its long average lease term of 11 years. The fund recently announced the acquisition of a major $70m+ industrial property in Prestons, Sydney which benefits from easy access to the M7 and M5 motorways.

The two other open direct funds are the Charter Hall Direct Diversified Consumer Staples Fund (DCSF) and Charter Hall Direct PFA Fund (PFA). DCSF invests in properties leased to businesses specialising in everyday items, the demand for which is typically more resilient to economic cycles and PFA is focused on investing in office buildings anchored by Australian government and other highly rated tenants in established or emerging office markets.

Distributions for the four open direct funds are currently projected at: 5.8% p.a.¹ (Direct Office Fund), 6.2%p.a.² (Direct Industrial Fund No.4), 6.7% p.a.³ (Direct Diversified Consumer Staples Fund), and 6.9% p.a.⁴ (Direct PFA Fund). All four funds also have the potential to generate capital growth over the term of the investment through increases in the underlying property values and fixed annual rental increases.

Charter Hall Direct has more than $3.3 billion of unlisted real estate assets under management in 10 funds. With over 50 properties in the direct portfolios which have a 99.6 per cent occupancy rate and a weighted average lease expiry of 9.4 years.

View all award winners here.

¹ _{DOF’s yield based on the expected distribution for DOF of 8.25 cpu (annualised) for the quarter commencing 1 July 2018, and a unit price of $1.41 as at 1 July 2018. The expected distribution reflects an increase to the 8.00 cpu (annualised) distribution paid in the previous quarter.}

² _{DIF4’s yield based on actual distribution of 6.50 cents per unit (annualised) for the June 2018 quarter and $1.05 unit price at 1 July 2018.}

³ _{DCSF’s yield based on actual distribution of 6.75 cents per unit (annualised) for the June 2018 quarter and $1.01 unit price at 1 July 2018.}

⁴ _{PFA’s yield based on actual distribution of 7.25 cents per unit (annualised) for the June 2018 quarter and $1.05 unit price at 1 July 2018.}

_{The Professional Planner | Zenith Fund Awards are determined using proprietary methodologies. Fund Awards were issued October 5, 2018 and are solely statements of opinion and do not represent recommendations to purchase, hold or sell any securities or make any other investment decisions. Fund Awards are current for 12 months from the date awarded and are subject to change at any time.}