Woolworths' is selling liquor retail property assets in a $603 million deal, one of the largest hotel portfolio sales in Australia.
Charter Hall Group and superannuation fund HOSTPLUS will buy the portfolio, which comprises 54 hospitality assets which mostly have Dan Murphy’s and/or BWS outlets, and then lease them back to ALH Group, which is 75 per cent owned by Woolworths and operates 329 venues and 545 retail liquor outlets across Australia.
The deal -- which has a yield of 6.8 per cent -- gives an initial 20-year lease to ALH.
Shares in Woolworths, which said it may pay down debt with the sale proceeds, were largely unmoved, lifting 0.08 per cent to $36.33.
The new partnership, known as the Long WALE Investment Partnership, will commit equity of $302m ($151m each from Charter Hall and HOSTPLUS) to the acquisition. The outstanding $340m will come from a non recourse debt facility from a syndicate of two Australian banks.
Charter Hall said its share of the acquisition will be funded from available cash and undrawn debt capacity and is expected to be earnings accretive to the group's current financial year operating earnings.
Charter Hall said the contribution to its property-investment earnings from Woolworths’ subsidiaries had increased to 22 per cent.
The portfolio covers venues across Australia, including the Croxton Park Hotel and Manhattan Hotel in Victoria, the Villa Noosa Hotel and Parkwood Tavern in Queensland, the Hyde Park Hotel in Western Australia and the Norwood Hotel in South Australia.