American investment heavyweight Invesco has snapped up Cromwell Property Group’s office tower on Exhibition Street in Melbourne for $208 million.
Invesco bought the property near the corner of La Trobe and Exhibition streets at a price representing a 9.4 per cent premium to Cromwell’s most recent independent valuation.
The building, long home to Australia Post, is now majority-leased to Origin Energy. It consists of a 22-level A-grade office complex with 29,809sq m of office space and 391sq m of retailing.
Cromwell refurbished the building between July 2010 and August 2011.
The off-market sale process was handled by Colliers International agents Nick Rathgeber and Leigh Melbourne.
Cromwell purchased the building in 2010 for $90m and chief executive Paul Weightman said the sale “continues Cromwell’s strategy to maximise value from individual assets”.
He added that Cromwell would look to redeploy the net sale proceeds over time for balance sheet acquisitions or to support new funds management businesses.
The deal, flagged by The Australian, was Invesco’s second transaction with Cromwell. The first was its $113.8m purchase of the 380 La Trobe Street office tower last year.