Australian property firm Charter Hall Retail has made a contracted sale of Southgate Square in South Australia and Rosebud Plaza in Victoria for a combined price of $225.5 million.
Southgate is the smaller of the two, with a Target store alongside accessories retailers Spendless Shoes, Specsavers and Allen Jewellers, and is selling for $91 million.
Rosebud Plaza houses nine apparel and footwear retailers including Bonds, Jay Jays, Ozmosis, Sportsgirl, Suji Kim Collection, Sussan, Suzanne Grae, Williams and Spendless Shoes, as well as Kmart, and is selling for $134.5 million.
Both sales follow unsolicited off-market offers and both sales are in-line with the June 2023 book valuations, according to Charter Hall.
Southgate is expected to settle in February 2024 and Rosebud in June 2024.
“These sales demonstrate CQR’s on-going active asset management and focus on improving portfolio quality while maintaining balance sheet strength,” Charter Hall Retail CEO Ben Ellis said.
“The sale proceeds of $225.5 million less transaction costs, will strengthen the balance sheet optionality that CQR has traditionally had through the ownership of liquid convenience retail assets.”
Charter Hall reconfirmed that based on information currently available and barring unforeseen events, the company expects FY24 operating earnings to be approximately 27.4 cents per unit.
The distribution payout ratio range is expected to be 90-95% of operating earnings.