Colliers International has been appointed to market Westfield WestCity.
Colliers International has been appointed to market Westfield WestCity.
Colliers International has been appointed by Scentre Group to market Westfield WestCity, following the recent sale of three Westfield malls in Lower Hutt, Hamilton and Auckland for $549 million.
John Goddard and Andrew Reed, capital markets directors for the agency, will market the 36,274 sq m WestCity centre in Henderson on behalf of ASX-listed company Scentre Group. Westfield WestCity has a current book value of $161.5 million.
The new appointment follows sales of the Westfield Glenfield, the Westfield Queensgate in Lower Hutt and the Westfield Chartwell in Hamilton.
The Ladstone Holdings group of companies acquired Westfield Glenfield; while a fund managed by Stride Property Ltd, called Diversified NZ Property Fund Ltd, purchased Westfield Queensgate and Westfield Chartwell - subject to the approval of the Overseas Investment Office.
Diversified NZ Property Fund's purchase of the Queensgate and Chartwell centres is expected to close in the first half of next year. Diversified's managing company, Stride Property Limited, is based in New Zealand but manages funds on behalf on offshore institutional investors.
"This sale constituted the single largest transaction in the history of Colliers International New Zealand, so we are extremely happy to be appointed to sell another property in Scentre's portfolio," Goddard says.
"The sale of Queensgate and Chartwell transacted at a blended yield of 8.2 per cent and Glenfield was in excess of 9 per cent."
Reed says Scentre Group had been considering divestment of some of its assets for a number of years.
"The process for last week's transactions took place over the last 12 months, so it is extremely satisfying to bring it to a successful conclusion and now have the opportunity to market a key Auckland regional centre in the form of Westfield WestCity."
Colliers recently announced the biggest industrial property transaction in the South Island this year and also the South Island's largest office sale.
The Goodman-owned Glassworks Industry Park, Hornby, in which Colliers has negotiated recent major commercial sales.
The biggest industrial sale was of Progressive Enterprises Ltd's distribution centre in Christchurch for $39.525 million to NZX listed Property Funds Manager Augusta Capital.
The biggest commercial office sale in Christchurch this year was on behalf of Goodman Property Trust of buildings largely occupied by IAG's Christchurch offices in Addington. The buildings fetched $33.2 million, representing a 7.8 per cent yield, and were bought by a group of Queenstown investors led by lawyer Ron Mackersy.
Colliers has also more recently handled the sale for Goodman Property Trust of another three new buildings in Christchurch for $38.9 million to a property fund managed by Mainland Capital - a Christchurch based fund manager and commercial property advisor with investment mandates across New Zealand.
Andrew Reed, of Colliers International.
Mark Macauley, general manager of Colliers in Christchurch, says the latest sale comprises three properties located in the Goodman-owned Glassworks Industry Park, Hornby. "It incorporates five blue chip tenants MOVE Logistics, DHL, Packaging House, Cirtex and Bridgestone. All the buildings were completed in 2014 to 100 per cent of code and have a staggered lease expiry profile," Macauley says.
The disposals are part of a wider asset sales programme by Goodman Property Trust so that it can reinvest in new opportunities. It has developed approximately 40,000 of industrial office space in Christchurch since 2008.
Macauley says there is huge interest in the investment property market in Canterbury and it shows no sign of slowing.
"These sales by Colliers are some of the biggest property transactions in New Zealand this year and investors from throughout the country clearly have an appetite for high calibre Christchurch property," Macauley says.
