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Alternative asset manager MA Financial Group (ASX: MAF) has wrapped up a $678.7 million deal to acquire Hyperdome Town Centre shopping centre at Loganholme south of Brisbane from Queensland Government investment arm QIC Real Estate.
The deal, representing one of the largest retail assets to change hands in Australia this year, has been struck on a yield of 7.25 per cent.
MA Financial Group is placing the Hyperdome into a single-asset fund with $405 million of equity raised from non-institutional investors to partially fund the transaction.
The fund will target an average distribution yield of 9 per cent and total return of 16 to 18 per cent per annum over its forecast five-year term.
Hyperdome, located off the M1 in the Brisbane-Gold Coast growth corridor, is one of the largest retail landholdings in Queensland comprising 44ha.
The property comprises several developed assets including the Hyperdome Shopping Centre, Hyperdome Home Centre, multiple peripheral properties and about 9ha of surplus land.
The centre has been acquired by MA Financial with 98 per cent occupancy.
“We are very excited to secure Hyperdome Town Centre, which is one of Queensland’s largest and most strategic retail landholdings and the focal point of its local community,” says Chris Lock, head of core real estate at MA Financial.
“This exceptionally rare acquisition builds on our recently announced acquisition of Top Ryde City Shopping Centre, alongside Keppel REIT, and underlines the strength of MA Financial’s fully integrated real estate platform across investment, distribution and operating capabilities.”
MA Financial acquired the Top Ryde Shoping Centre in partnership with Keppel REIT for $525 million in October.
In announcing the Hyperdome deal today, MA Financial says it will take responsibility for the management of the centre, including property management and development management. QIC says it will be retained in assisting to manage the asset.
QIC director of real estate funds management Declan Walsh says the sale marks the realisation of value for investors.
“This divestment underscores QIC’s ability to drive long-term performance and execute successful transactions in line with client-endorsed strategies,” says Walsh.
“Hyperdome is now 98 per cent leased and delivering record trading performance, anchored by a non-discretionary triple supermarket offering that drives pedestrian traffic north of nine million each year.
“More than that, the centre has become a cornerstone of the Logan community, and we look forward to supporting MA Financial on Hyperdome’s path to future growth.”
MA Financial Group says that once the Hyperdome acquisition is finalised, it will have executed on a combined $1.2 billion of retail real estate transactions since the acquisition of IP Generation in September.
The $90.4 million acquisition of IP Generation, a shopping centre investor, was announced in May and brought on board $2 billion in retail assets held in unlisted funds for about 1,100 high-net-worth investors.
QIC Real Estate has held an interest the Hyperdome since 1996 when it acquired a 50 per cent stake from late Gold Coast entrepreneur and Dreamworld developer John Longhurst. Longhurst sold his remaining half share to QIC in 2013.
After settling the Hyperdome deal, which is expected to occur in December, and with the recent acquisition of Top Ryde City shopping centre in Sydney, MA Financial says it will have pro forma assets under management of $14.7 billion.
This total includes a $230 million raising of MA portfolio credit notes which the company today announced that it had closed oversubscribed.
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