SCA spends $90.1m on shopping centres, land

SCA sold Katoomba Marketplace to a managed investment vehicle five years ago. It is now buying it back.

SCA Property Group has purchased two shopping centres, a development site and petrol station.

In the biggest deal it is paying $55.1 million for Katoomba Marketplace in the Blue Mountains.

Coincidentally the group owned this asset before – it seeded the SURF2 investment vehicle five years ago priced at $44.7m.

The complex contains 9719 square metres of lettable area anchored to Woolworths and Big W.

Meanwhile, SCA also agreed to buy the Cooloola Cove Shopping Centre north of the Sunshine Coast, in Queensland, for $18.6m.

That vendor, Altor Capital, paid $12.85m in March, 2018.

Both acquisitions are due to settle at the end of the month.

In a third deal, SCA spent $10m on a vacant block next to its Greenbank Shopping Centre, south of Brisbane.

It also outlaid $6.4m on a petrol station adjacent to Bakewell Shopping Centre, at Palmerston, which it was reported as buying for $33m not long earlier (story continues below).

In another deal confirmed last year, the landlord picked up Auburn Central for $129.5m from Elanor.

SCA’s portfolio performance

Announcing its 1H21 results, SCA said its portfolio occupancy was unchanged at 98.2 per cent.

Its specialty vacancy fell to 4.8pc, from 5.1pc in June; 96 tenancies were renewed and 63 were struck new.

Incorporating the Katoomba and Cooloola Cove centres and the land, plus revaluations, its portfolio was worth $3.4 billion at December 31, 2020 – up from $3.14b six months earlier.

The manager’s SURF1 vehicle was wound up in the period too; in the end unitholders saw an 11pc internal rate of return over each of the five years.

SCA’s statutory net profit after tax was $102.9m; it hasn’t received federal government/JobKeeper support.

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Marc Pallisco

A former property analyst and print journalist, Marc is the publisher of realestatesource.com.au.