Charter Hall's flagship wholesale office fund has snapped up a half stake in the nearly $200 million Australian Taxation Office building in Adelaide from the embattled Aspen Group.
As part of the deal it also bought an associated development site, City Central, that can sustain up to three new office towers spanning a total of 30,000sq m, for $12m.
The building and the site are co-owned by Telstra Super, which has worked with Charter Hall on other deals.
In the main purchase Charter Hall's $1.9 billion Core Plus Office Fund picked up Aspen's equity interest in the trust that owns the ATO building in a $29.5m direct deal.
This reflected an asset value of $99.5m, based on the trust's book value for the tower of $199m.
The property in the centre of Adelaide's CBD is a 37,313sq m A-grade building that is majority let for an initial 15-year lease term to the ATO.
The remaining 15 per cent is occupied by Australia Post on a 10-year initial term. The pricing of the building, which was completed in late 2012, reflected a yield of about 7.5 per cent.
Charter Hall's joint managing director David Harrison said the acquisition was in line with the fund's investment mandate to own well-located and long-term leased assets with value-add opportunities.
City Central is one of Adelaide's key mixed-use development sites and will be developed out as Charter Hall secures tenants.
"We are pleased to expand our relationship with Telstra Super through this acquisition. CPOF and Telstra Super jointly acquired the Brisbane Square office building in 2010 for $300m," Mr Harrison said.
Aspen chief executive Clem Salwin said the sale was part of a move to simplify the business and refocus on managing its accommodation fund.
The sale was the first of a portfolio of assets Aspen is offloading. It is still looking for buyers for a three-strong $200m portfolio of office and industrial assets: the Septimus Roe Square office tower in Perth's city centre; the 29ha Spearwood Industrial Estate, also in Perth; and the Noble Park complex in Melbourne.
Spearwood had earlier drawn interest from Dexus Property Group and Charter Hall but has yet to sell. Noble Park is a 44,000sq m industrial complex in Melbourne's southeast.