Wesfarmers sells six Bunnings stores with leasebacks
Wesfarmers has sold six Bunnings stores with leasebacks as part of plans to wind up the BPI, or BPI No 1, special purpose vehicle.
Charter Hall is the buyer, for $290 million – a blended 5.14 per cent yield (or specifically, for returns between 4.75-5.75pc, the lower for the metropolitan assets).
In New South Wales, the deal includes the Goulburn and Mittagong outlets and in Sydney, at Alexandria.
Queensland’s Cannonvale (Airlie Beach) and Oxenford warehouses and the Thomastown store in Melbourne’s north sees out the portfolio.
Combined, the properties contain c85,000 square metres on 16.9 hectares.
CBRE’s Simon Rooney, Stuart McCann and Paul Ryan brokered the off-market deal.
Six to go
Wesfarmers announced in March it would wind up BPI by this month.
The properties it just sold are leased for an initial 10 years with options extending to 2093.
The agreements also includes CPI-linked rent reviews.
Five of the six other properties in the trust are set to settle early next year.
Proceeds will pay out unitholders.
The sell-down is expected to deliver a c$97m windfall – the capital gain.
Funds to split portfolio
Charter Hall will slot three of the stores into the new Convenience Retail Fund – including Oxenford on the Gold Coast, the Southern Highlands’ Mittagong and, in Melbourne’s north, at Thomastown.
The other properties will be split into other trusts.
The deal comes five years since the asset manager outlaid $353m for six Bunnings stores on behalf the Charter Hall Long WALE Partnership.
All up, it holds about $2b of retail real estate leased to the business.
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