The business has bought a 25 per cent stake in Westfield Chermside shopping centre from Scentre Group for $683M.
Located north of Brisbane’s CBD, Westfield Chermside is Australia’s second-largest regional shopping centre by both sales and gross lettable area. The purchase was made via Dexus Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund (DWSF), Dexus’s flagship retail fund.
Following the transaction, Dexus plans to invest an additional $170M into DWSF, taking its investment to $300M, to support the fund’s strategy.
“Westfield Chermside’s scale, performance metrics and community integration make it an exceptional addition to our retail platform, delivering both immediate performance and long-term value creation,” said Kirrily Lord, Dexus Executive GM of Retail.
As part of the deal, DWSF will become a joint venture partner of Scentre Group. Scentre will remain the property, leasing and development manager for the joint venture. The purchase price represents Scentre’s book value at June 30 and a valuation capitalisation rate of five per cent.
“Sourcing new capital through joint ventures continues to form a key part of the Group’s capital management strategy,” said Scentre Group CEO Elliott Rusanow. “The proceeds from this transaction will provide the Group with further capital to pursue our strategic objectives of creating long term value for security holders.”
