Charter Hall Direct Office Fund secures sale of Pacific Highway site

The Charter Hall Direct Office Fund (DOF) today announced that it has entered into an agreement for the sale of 500-520 Pacific Highway, St Leonards in Sydney for $150 million. DOF’s office asset, 504 Pacific Highway, is located on the site, entitling the fund to approximately 80% of the sale price, which is significantly above book value.

The transaction follows the successful rezoning of the site that allows for a 138 metre mixed use residential development to be constructed along with the provision of improved local amenity for the area.

Fund Manager, Steven Bennett said the sale demonstrates Charter Hall’s ability to actively manage its portfolio to maximise opportunities in the marketplace and to deliver superior returns to investors.

“The sale is a positive outcome for DOF investors and is the final non-core asset sale for the fund. A portion of the sale proceeds will be utilised to grow the funds Australian office portfolio by investing into high quality long leased assets. This focus on long leases has resulted in the fund having a sector leading 9.2 year weighted average lease term. Along with the 7.25%pa fund distribution yield we are seeing the fund continue to attract new equity, particularly from SMSF looking for investments with stable yields and capital growth prospects. 

“We take an active approach to all of our assets to ensure that we maximise the properties value to deliver superior returns to our investors and this sale leveraged off strong capability within the Charter Hall team. The strong sale metrics highlight that the property was competitively bid by a large number of interested parties both domestically and offshore".

DOF is highly rated by independent research houses. It is currently open for investment with the minimum investment in DOF being $20,000 and distributions payable quarterly.

The St Leonards transaction is expected to settle 30 October 2015.