Manulife snaps up Masters-turned-logistics investment
Manulife Investment Management has made its first direct Australian real estate investment – a Masters turned distribution centre, in west Sydney.
The 3.12 hectare St Marys North asset, 243 Forrester Road, at the V-intersection of Ropes Crossing Boulevard, is costing $56 million – a five per cent yield.
Centennial, on behalf of a KKR backed fund, was the seller; it paid HMC Capital $35.1m in 2022, a noteworthy price 71 per cent over valuation.
Centennial also added a second building, extending the lettable area from 13,000 square metres to 14,980 sqm, and, last August, fully leased it.
The complex was also branded the Connect West Distribution Centre.
The sale comes two months since we reported the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Korea Investment Corporation paid $330m for the Connect Central Sydney industrial park at Villawood.
This quarter meanwhile, ESR is selling a Lockwood Road, Erskine Park, block, seven kilometres south of St Marys North.
Canadians back Asia Pacific again
Manulife IM is the wealth management arm of Canada’s largest insurer, Manulife Financial Corporation.
About half the value of its book is invested in the Asia Pacific.
Forrester Rd will now be managed in-house; Pegasus Media and Logistics is the anchor, with 10,866 sqm, while Mitre 10 recently committed to the balance.
The weighted average lease expiry is 5.1 years.
Elsewhere in Sydney, in the CBD, Manulife IM and Investa co-own a recently completed $800m office, 39 Martin Place – also the new ASX headquarters.
Manulife IM, with PGIM Real Estate, picked up local industrial assets too, care of an $850m deal in 2021 for a 90pc stake in a portfolio offloaded by Blackstone.
Also today, we are reporting Harmony Property Investments and ESR are trading a $50.5m Adelaide distribution centre.
Colliers marketed the St Marys North property, 50 kilometres from town.
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