Charter Hall Long WALE REIT - Sale of Hoppers Crossing and acquisition of Geosciences Australia Property

Charter Hall Long WALE REIT (ASX: CLW) is pleased to announce the acquisition of a 25% interest in the Geoscience Australia property, Canberra (“Property”). CLW has partnered with two other Charter Hall managed funds to acquire this unique social infrastructure asset. The Property has been purchased for $90.9 million¹ (CLW 25% share) on a 7.4% initial yield, a 9.6-year WALE, 3% fixed annual rent increases and a net lease structure where the tenant is responsible for all property outgoings.

Situated on a large 160,378 sqm site, the Property is located at 101 Jerrabomberra Avenue, Symonston, ACT, approximately 7 kms from the Canberra CBD. The Property comprises a specialised life sciences complex of 32,659 sqm of lettable area across three separate buildings including office, specialised laboratory and storage, warehousing, childcare facilities and parking for 652 vehicles. The Property is fully leased to Geoscience Australia.

Geoscience Australia is a Commonwealth agency that serves as the Australian Government’s technical adviser on all aspects of geoscience and custodian of the geographic and geological data of Australia. Given the scientific nature of the tenant, the property incorporates specialised laboratory facilities including a geochemistry laboratory, geochronology laboratory, mineral separation laboratory, mass spectrometer facilities and the National Earthquake Alerts Seismic Centre. In addition, the building incorporates leading ESG principles featuring a geothermal heat pump system and has achieved a Climate Active Carbon Neutral certification. Since construction, significant capital has been invested in ongoing tenancy upgrades, as well as installing critical infrastructure and an onsite childcare centre.

The acquisition will be predominantly funded from the sale proceeds of the industrial and logistics facility at 364-426 Old Geelong Road, Hoppers Crossing, Victoria. This property has been sold for $74.0 million, in-line with the June 2022 book value on a 4.5% cap rate with a 3.5-yr WALE, with settlement expected in December. These two transactions demonstrate CLW’s on-going active asset management, repositioning the portfolio to extend the WALE and improve tenant covenant quality.

CLW reiterates FY23 earnings and distribution guidance of 28.0 cents per security.

Announcement Authorised by the Chair

^{1 $363.5 million, 100% basis}

Click here to view the PDF ASX Announcement