Stockland is moving to fully exit its operations in Britain following a tumultuous eight years for the company’s London outpost.
The company revealed its intention to ditch the remnants of its British operations in a footnote in its annual report that was filed yesterday.
“There remain two assets in the UK business which are held for sale. The sale of these assets is expected to complete by June 2015,” the report read.
Stockland is looking to offload $7 million worth of apartments, a $40m retail centre and a $25m warehouse facility, according to the report.
Its exit from Britain was first mooted in 2009, three years after it purchased Halladale Group for $550m. That acquisition launched an ambitious apartments business, as well as building a commercial property portfolio.
In 2009, Stockland’s British business represented 8 per cent, or just under $1 billion, of the then $12bn group.
Stockland’s entry into the British market came just months ahead of the beginnings of the global financial crisis in 2007, the implosion of the British housing market in 2008 and resultant economic decline. A series of writedowns across its business in Britain ensued.
In 2011, four of the shopping centres it managed in Britain through its CPI Retail Active Management Program were placed into receivership; with Stockland writing off the assets.
It also sold off its $800m British property portfolio that at one stage included the Glasgow headquarters of Scottish and Southern Energy.
The downturn also timed with a drop-off in Australia’s residential markets that led Stockland to report a $1.8bn loss in 2009 and a $1.7bn capital raising.
While its British business gave the company headaches, at no point did it put Stockland itself in jeopardy.
The company is now solely focused on its Australian business and this year delivered a profit of $527m.
Stockland was just one of many Australian companies that made disastrous offshore forays. Babcock & Brown’s partnership with GPT in Europe famously ended in tears for both parties, while APN Property Group’s European retail fund saw many of its assets called in by receivers.