Pension funds trade $560m industrial portfolio
The National Pension Fund of Korea (NPF) has sold a half stake in a 10 year old industrial fund to UniSuper.
The interest in the Dexus managed Australian Industrial Partnership – only listed last month – traded for $560 million, some 10 per cent over expectation.
With 345,000 square metres across 20 properties – 12 in the Quarry East estate at Pemulwuy, west of Sydney (pictured, top), and the balance, in the Dexus Industrial Park in Melbourne’s Truganina – the portfolio returns annual rent of c$50m; Blackwoods, Brady, Coles, Fujitsu, Northline, Roche, Symbion and UPS are amongst the major occupiers.
The weighted average lease expiry meanwhile is short – 3.8 years – actually an advantage in Sydney right now, where industrial rents have been surging over the past 24 months and supply, both available and upcoming, is limited.
NPF, the world’s third largest pension fund by total assets, invested in the Dexus-managed trust in 2012.
The remaining stake is held by the Dexus Australian Logistics Trust, controlled 50:50 between Dexus and US-based Blackstone.
UniSuper property portfolio approaches $8b
With the Dexus Australian Industrial Partnership deal, UniSuper’s local property portfolio value rises to c$7.86 billion.
“We are delighted to acquire this high quality portfolio of stabilised income producing assets to complement our existing industrial development pipeline in the strongly performing logistics sector,” UniSuper senior managing partner, Nick Stephens, said (story continues below).
“The transaction highlights UniSuper’s ability to transact swiftly without the need for debt funding or regulatory approvals,” he added.
In 2021 it teamed with AMP Capital and Cbus to acquire stakes worth $2.2b in the Gold Coast’s Pacific Fair and Sydney’s Macquarie Centre.
With over 600,000 members, the group manages investments worth over $115b including technology stocks which have performed particularly strongly over year – returning more than 10pc.
“As genuine long-term investors, we continue to look for unique opportunities that help our members grow their retirement savings,” Mr Stephens said.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Tony Iuliano and Adrian Rowse represented NPF.
Richmond Bridge’s Peter Wylie, who acted for UniSuper, said “we are pleased to have successfully concluded this transaction, capitalising on a market with fewer buyers which allowed us to secure these high quality assets at an attractive entry price”.
“When presented with the opportunity to assess this portfolio…we did not hesitate, recognising the rarity of such offerings in the market,” he added.
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