GIC joins Charter Hall at 555 Collins St, Melbourne

Charter Hall Group (Charter Hall or the Group) is pleased to announce its Prime Office Fund (CPOF or the Fund) has sold a 50 per cent interest in 555 Collins Street to Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, with the transaction having received FIRB approval.

The 555 Collins Street 3,000m² site was acquired in 2018 and subsequently received planning approval for an 84,000m² state-of-the-art, twin office tower precinct inclusive of 2,300m² of retail. Stage 1 is under construction and due for completion in 2023, comprising 48,000 m² of lettable area, strategically positioned on one of Melbourne CBD’s key intersections and surrounded by other premium grade office towers such as Rialto, 530 and 567 Collins Street.

Charter Hall Managing Director & Group CEO, David Harrison, said, “We’re delighted to extend our 22-year partnership with GIC offering one of our CPOF investors the opportunity to co-own what we believe will be one of Melbourne’s pre-eminent new office precincts.”

“This transaction has provided our flagship office wholesale fund, CPOF, with capital to expand our Melbourne office portfolio via the acquisition of Southern Cross Towers and to further invest in Stage 2 of 555 Collins Street, when appropriate,” Mr Harrison said.

Charter Hall Office CEO, Carmel Hourigan, said, “Our development and asset management teams have achieved leasing with major commitments from Amazon and Aware Super, whilst further leasing is well advanced, highlighting the bifurcation we have expected with tenant customers increasingly attracted to brand new, state-of-the-art space to satisfy the expectations of their people and customers.”

“This partnership expansion with GIC provides further evidence of the value of prime real estate and of the commitment from our long-term partners to invest alongside our funds. The CPOF portfolio has grown beyond $9.5 billion in scale and represents the single largest office portfolio within the Group’s $26 billion office platform. Pleasingly, we have curated—through develop to core strategies—a high performance investment for our CPOF investors, as evidenced by its no.1 ranking in the MSCI wholesale office index over all reported time periods from one to ten years,” Ms Hourigan said. The 555 Collins Street transaction was concluded directly between GIC and Charter Hall.