The Lendlease managed Australia Prime Property Fund (APPF) Retail fund has put its 50% share in the Westfield Carindale shopping centre, most recently valued at A$850m (鈧�514.5m), up for sale.
APPF Retail is moving to sell the asset in Brisbane as it continues to raise equity to meet redemption requests totalling more than A$2bn.
Carindale is the second APPF Retail asset to be sold. Last year, its 50% stake in Westfield Marion in South Australia was acquired for A$670m by the Singapore-listed SPH Reit.
The remaining 50% interest in the Brisbane centre is owned by Carindale Property Trust (CDP).
鈥檚 head of retail capital markets 鈥� Pacific, Simon Rooney, said demand for core retail assets was increasing, primarily from major offshore investors, who saw that Australian retail had been oversold.
鈥淭his is presenting highly-strategic opportunities to acquire assets which provide accretive, sustainable returns and a diversified income and asset base,鈥� said Rooney.
Colliers International head of retail investment services, Luke MacGillivray, said the centre鈥檚 low site utilisation and the opportunity for intensified development, including residential, commercial, short-term accommodation and retail expansion, would help drive considerable buyer interest.
As APPF Retail continues to work through a queue of investors seeking to reduce or sell out of the fund, it has simultaneously drawn up a new strategy, hoping to persuade some investors to revoke their redemptions requests.
APPF Retail plans to transform some of the centres in its A$5bn shopping centre portfolio into 24-hour mixed-use precincts, to make use of surplus land around the complexes.
