Macquarie Group has sold a stake in property fund manager and investor Charter Hall to the company of retail billionaire John Gandel.
The investment bank last night sold 15.9 million Charter Hall shares, or 4.6 per cent of the company, worth $67m at the close of trade last night.
The Gandel Group, which is Charter Hall’s largest shareholder, advised the company it was buying a portion of the Charter Hall securities owned by Macquarie, increasing its holding to almost 19.9 per cent.
Previously, The Gandel Group held 15.14 per cent.
The Australian reported today that Macquarie was preparing to offload its 9.8 per cent stake, worth $143.7m.
Macquarie purchased an 11.55 per cent interest in Charter Hall on March 1, 2010, when shares were trading at 68c. It happened at the time the bank sold its real estate funds management business to the listed property funds manager and investor. Shares in Charter Hall closed 1.2 per cent higher last night at $4.23.
The stock was trading at about $4.60 almost 12 months ago before falling to about $3.60 in June.
Goodman Group has been speculated as another property company soon to see a major selldown in its shares, with suggestions China Investment Corp could divest its $855m interest in the company. In 2012, it sold a 6.9 per cent interest in Goodman for $519.2m.
The sale will follow the $505m divestment by the Government Investment Corp of its 8 per cent interest in The GPT Group this week.