Property fund manager Charter Hall Group is continuing to grow the wholesale side of its $12 billion property empire, with the group tapping investors for $350 million for two specialist funds.
Charter Hall has launched a $200m capital raising for an existing unlisted office fund that it hopes to grow to $600m of asset, and is also looking for $150m for a new $250m industrial fund.
The acquisitive group last month teamed up with superannuation fund HOSTPLUS to buy a $603m portfolio of freehold pubs from the Woolworths-backed ALH Group.
Charter Hall joint managing director David Harrison recently told The Australian the group may pursue a listed fund with secondary office properties if there was support from its investor base.
“We’re not afraid to be working those high-yielding assets and getting value out of them, and as the prime cap rates compress there will be more and more focus on them,” Mr Harrison said.
Charter Hall yesterday announced the launch the Charter Hall Direct Industrial Fund No 3, which will be seeded with stakes in two Coles distribution centres, one in Perth and one in Adelaide.
“We believe the outlook for established Australian industrial precincts is strong, and expect further growth in the domestic economy and strong industrial property fundamentals,” said fund manager Steven Bennett.
Meanwhile, Charter Hall has rebranded its $483.4m Charter Hall Direct Property Fund, set up by Macquarie Group in 2006.
Under a new name, Charter Hall Direct Office Fund, it will raise $200m, with $87m offered to existing unitholders and the balance new investors.
The fund includes four CBD office properties worth $342m, and another four non-core suburban buildings.
In a report compiled for investors, the group said it aimed to sell three of the non-core properties in the fund by the beginning of next year, keeping only its North Sydney building at 165 Walker Street.
A party is in due diligence on its building at 300 Adelaide Street, Brisbane. Two Sydney suburban buildings, at 504 Pacific Highway, St Leonards and 2 Wentworth Street, Parramatta, will also be sold.