Private equity giant Blackstone, US-based property group CBRE and China’s Fosun are expected to be among the final bidders for Morgan Stanley’s $8.9 billion real estate empire, Investa Property Group, following a meeting in New York next week.
According to sources, the high-level discussions are aimed at reducing the two dozen parties that submitted bids to a shortlist of five or six, in the closing stage in one of the most competitive real estate auctions ever seen in Australia.
More than 50 parties requested access to confidential due-diligence material, prompting expectations of a hefty premium of up to 20 per cent on the sales price.
That will deliver a much needed fillip to the investors in Morgan Stanley’s largest real estate fund to date, the $US8.8bn MSREF VI, which, along with another of the bank’s vehicles, paid top dollar for Investa on the eve of the 2007 credit crunch.
Morgan Stanley, which has drafted UBS as a co-adviser, has timed its exit far better.
The jewel in its empire is a $2.3bn portfolio of directly owned assets including the Sydney skyscraper Deutsche Bank Place.
While Morgan Stanley is considering selling off the business piecemeal, sources claimed the bank would prefer to dispose of the group in one line.
Blackstone, CBRE, Fosun and Charter Hall Group are understood to have submitted offers for the entire group.
Two of Australia’s largest listed office landlords, GPT and Dexus, may have shied away from an offer for all of the assets, which include management rights to the publicly owned IOF and its blue-chip stablemate, ICPF, as well as a bundle of development land.
These assets, which command an end value of $3bn, had always been earmarked as a separate trade, but may now be included in a single deal for the entire business.
Investa’s 20-plus suitors will learn whether they have graduated to the next stage within two weeks.
A final decision will swiftly follow with the sale set to deliver a significant boon to the listed office sector, with cap rates predicted to compress for Dexus and IOF.
The strength of offshore interest has underscored the continued appeal of Australian commercial property, which has benefited from a falling dollar and low rates.
Investa’s portfolio offers a rare opportunity to own some of the country’s top real estate, mostly in Sydney and Melbourne.
Morgan Stanley’s decision to sell Investa coincides with a multi-billion-dollar raising for a fresh real estate fund. It’s expected some of the investors casting an eye over the Australian offering will also commit cash to MSREF VIII.
This article first appeared in The Australian Business Review.