Sydney Top Companies 21-30

Sydney Top Companies 21-30

As much as the public discourse has tilted against coal as investor activists and voters put fossil fuels in the firing line, profitability is still a leading determinant of share market success, especially for companies with strong cash flow in an era where the tech crunch has taken its toll on high-growth, blitzscaling startups that pursue customer numbers and branding over short-term profits. 

Whitehaven Coal (ASX: WHC) jumped 24 spots in this year’s list after teetering at the edges for several years with non-inclusion in 2020. Not a single company in this section of the list comes close to the circa $2 billion profit the miner notched in FY22. 

The trend of companies exposed to the fossil fuel sector also continues with Ampol (ASX: ALD), an operator of oil refineries and service stations, breaking into the Top 30. As was the case in 2021, half of the middle part of the Top 50 is comprised of property companies, which saw varying fortunes over the course of the year.  


21. TPG Telecom (TPG)

TPG
TPG Telecon CEO Iñaki Berroeta

Software & Services
2021 rank: 17
Market Cap: $9.29b
1H22 revenue (operates on a calendar year): $2.63b
1H22 profit (operates on a calendar year): $167b
Listed: 2020
CEO: Iñaki Berroeta
CEO salary: $5.55m

For the second year running, telco TPG Telecom (ASX: TPG) has been knocked down a few more notches among the ranks of Sydney’s top companies. 

This drop mirrors the firm’s share price which took a nosedive in August on the release of flat 1H22 results, wiping out most of the gains made throughout the year. 

Though the results looked promising at first glance, with the company claiming net profit grew by 114 per cent in the half, those gains were largely due to a tax credit of $86 million. Had the company not received it, profits would have risen marginally to $81 million. 

Further, revenue was largely flat across the company’s segments and earnings fell by 5.3 per cent. 

That downward pressure on TPG shares continued after August, resulting in the company witnessing its lowest share price since TPG listed in 2020, falling to $4.54 per share in late October.  

With the first half in the rearview mirror, management is likely hoping for some positive news coming their way from the Australian Competition Consumer Commission (ACCC). 

The consumer watchdog is currently investigating a proposed ‘landmark’ network sharing agreement between TPG and leading telco Telstra (ASX: TLS) that would give the former access to around 3,700 of the latter’s mobile network assets. 

Telstra would also gain access to TPG’s spectrum across 4G and 5G, allowing it to grow its network, increase capacity and continue to be Australia’s largest and fastest network. 

With such a large deal in mind, the ACCC called for submissions from stakeholders about preliminary views on the network sharing agreement, noting the review was of ‘critical importance to competition in the mobile telecommunication sector’. The ACCC is set to make its determination on 22 December. 

TPG also completed a second major deal during 2022, that being the $950 million divestment of its rooftop mobile infrastructure sites to Canadian investor and asset manager OMERS Infrastructure. 

The portfolio included 1,237 tower assets (428 towers and 809 rooftops) and represented approximately 21 per cent of TPG’s total mobile network footprint. 

New owner OMERS also secured a 20-year master services agreement, which includes an option for TPG to extend the timeframe. 

Looking forward, shareholders will be curious to find out the results of a recently announced strategic review into the future of TPG’s Vision Network. 

The telco appointed Bank of America in late-October to conduct the review which will seek to exploit Vision Network’s full potential as Australia’s largest non-NBN residential wholesale access network. 

“Vision Network’s operations are best-in-class and, following completion of the last phase of functional separation from our retail operations earlier this month, the business has compelling opportunities to fulfil its potential to become a leading wholesale residential broadband platform for multiple retail service providers,” TPG CEO and managing director Iñaki Berroeta said. 

TPG was also slugged with a $5 million fine following ACCC action regarding how the telco misled customers about achievable internet speeds, in breach of consumer laws. 

Telstra and Optus were also fined as part of the watchdog’s action, but according to a report released by the ACCC on 2 December, broadband retailers are now more regularly meeting or exceeding their advertised speed claims for NBN fixed-line plans during busy evening hours. 

“A combination of retailers sustaining strong performance and providing more accurate information in their advertising means that more consumers are getting what they pay for in their NBN plan,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said. 


22. Stockland (SGP)

Stockland CEO Tarun Gupta
Stockland CEO Tarun Gupta

Real Estate
2021 rank: 23
Market Cap: $9.14b
FY22 revenue: $2.84b
FY22 profit: $1.38b
Listed: 1987
CEO: Tarun Gupta
CEO salary: $4.77m

Diversified property group Stockland (ASX: SGP) clocked up 70 years in business in 2022 but, like many companies exposed to the vagaries of interest rate increases, it enters 2023 with less certainty than the year just passed.

However, the strength of Stockland’s business lies in the diversity of its portfolio.

Established in 1952 by Ervin Graf, who developed his first residential estate in Western Sydney, Stockland is now the country’s largest listed developer.

With the extent of further interest rate increases by the Reserve Bank of Australia still an unknown, the group notes that its residential development division is presenting challenges as buyers increasingly take a conservative approach to the market.

In its latest market update, Stockland says month-on-month sales and enquiries were stable during the September quarter, but CEO Tarun Gupta also warns that current conditions in the broader residential market are ‘likely to persist until the interest rate outlook stabilises’.

Gupta took the reins at Stockland following the departure of long-time CEO Mark Steinert last year.

On the plus side, there has been an easing of construction cost increases, but a negative for the property sector is a decrease in buyers committing to off-the-plan sales.

Meanwhile, Stockland’s retail assets are benefitting from robust conditions for assets strategically positioned in the essentials-based category of consumer spending.

Logistics is another area of growth for the company, forming a key part of group strategy. These have driven an expansion of Stockland’s development pipeline from $33 billion to $41 billion over the past year.

The logistics pipeline has doubled to $6.4 billion which the company says reweights the group’s portfolio and provides a ‘clear pathway for earnings growth’. Stockland completed $300 million worth of logistics projects in FY22 and expects to double this figure in the current year.

Strong tenant demand for logistics properties saw Stockland seal 112,000sqm in leasing deals in the September quarter alone, with an average rental uplift of 12.1 per cent.

During the year, Stockland chose to trim down its business with the $987 million sale of its retirement living portfolio to private equity group EQT Infrastructure.

Stockland is now rumoured to be close to beefing up its land-lease division through the acquisition of lifestyle-communities business Serenitas from Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC.


23. Mirvac (MGR)

Mirvac CEO Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz
Mirvac CEO Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz will exit the company in 2023

Real Estate
2021 rank: 20
Market Cap: $8.83b
FY22 revenue: $2.8b
FY22 profit: $906m
Listed: 1999
CEO: Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz
CEO salary: $3.4m 

Despite property giant Mirvac Group (ASX: MGR) grappling with rising construction costs, extreme weather and labour shortages, the 50-year group is optimistic its diversified portfolio is robust enough to grow in challenging times. 

It’s come a long way from managing a block of 12 apartments – known as Montrose – in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, and has evolved to monitor $34 billion in assets under management, as well as a $30 billion development pipeline – the largest in its history. 

In FY22, the group delivered a statutory profit result of $906 million– a $5 million boost year-on-year. It also generated an operating profit of $596 million, reflecting an 8 per cent increase.

In October, Mirvac sold 189 Grey Street – a major office building in inner Brisbane - to boutique real estate investment manager Marquette Properties for $104.4 million as the company looks to sell-off $1.3 billion in non-core assets. Part of the purge included Allendale Square in Perth, which was sold for $223 million.

“We expect that the quality of our portfolio will continue to be an important differentiator for Mirvac, as capital and tenant demand for modern, sustainable and technology rich buildings strengthens,” Mirvac CEO Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz said at the group’s AGM in November. 

But the September quarter was not ideal for Mirvac, with the developer reporting residential sales more than halved year-on-year due to higher borrowing costs and weaker economic outlook deterring new buyers. 

It also noted that recent weather variability and the COVID-19 pandemic amplified the need to mitigate construction disruptions as much as possible in order to deliver new homes to market quickly and efficiently. 

Mirvac pre-sold roughly 40 per cent of apartments in Isle Waterfront Newstead in Brisbane – which is the first of six apartment projects launching this year – but noted that residential lot sales fell by 53 per cent to 402. 

Mirvac maintained occupancy of 97.6 per cent across its portfolio, with its prime-grade office assets lifting to 96.3 per cent compared to 95.7 per cent in FY22. 

The update came two weeks after Mirvac announced CEO Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz would be leaving the company, with head of integrated investment portfolio Campbell Hanan taking over as top boss from March 2023. Before joining Mirvac in 2016, Hanan was the CEO of Investa Office for three years. 

Mirvac chair John Mulcahy will also leave the group come 1 January after serving on the board for 13 years.

“Campbell has made a significant contribution to our company, and he has been instrumental in contributing to our urban strategy and transforming our investment portfolio into a modern, sustainable, technology-rich offering that continues to be an important differentiator for Mirvac,” Mulcahy said to shareholders in late October. 

“I would again like to thank Sue for her remarkable leadership over the past decade and I’m looking forward to seeing the next generation of leaders take this great company forward.”

The group is charging ahead with its $30 billion push into the build-to-rent (BTR) sector, which offers tenants long-term rental options as an alternative to home ownership. 

The company is on the cusp of completing LIV Munro, which comprises 490 BTR apartments, a wellness centre, co-working facilities and an outdoor cinema within the Queen Victoria Market precinct in Melbourne.  

Mirvac also noted construction has progressed at LIV Anura, Brisbane (396 apartments) and that construction costs have been largely secured for a 474-apartment project at LIV Aston, Melbourne. On completion, the BTR network will have 2,173 apartments across the current pipeline.

The company’s long-term strategy is aiming to have 80 per cent of capital allocated to its investment portfolio, with the remainder to fund development activities, which deliver profit and net tangible assets (NTA) uplift.


24.  Whitehaven Coal (WHC)

Whitehaven Coal CEO Paul Flynn
Whitehaven Coal CEO Paul Flynn

Energy
2021 rank: 48
Market Cap: $8.78b
FY22 revenue: $4.92b
FY22 profit: $1.95b
Listed: 2007
CEO: Paul Flynn
CEO salary: $5.17

A year of stellar capital appreciation has pushed Whitehaven Coal (ASX: WHC) out from among the Sydney Top Companies’ cellar dwellers after wrapping up FY22 with a $2 billion net profit.

Coal is king again as far as the market is concerned, and with thermal coal prices buoyed by a round of geopolitical shocks, Whitehaven Coal has been riding a boom that has almost tripled the company’s market cap since this time last year.

Whitehaven revealed in October that it had achieved a record average coal price of $581 per tonne, up from $514 in the June quarter and $189 a year earlier.

While some analysts caution that the company’s shares have been swept higher by market exuberance, Whitehaven is taking advantage of its strong cash position to complete one of Australia’s largest corporate share buybacks in years.

Whitehaven is buying 25 per cent of its stock, or a total of 240 million shares, over the next 12 months. The move comes on the heels of a 10 per cent buyback completed in October as the company looks to return capital and deliver value to shareholders.

Whitehaven generated $1.55 billion of cash in the September quarter and had a net cash position of $1.93 billion on 30 September 2022.

“Whitehaven is extremely well placed to continue to support energy security for our customers and to deliver strong returns for our shareholders,” says CEO Paul Flynn.

Whitehaven is definitely not calling time on the coal industry, despite the push to renewables. The company notes in its annual report that it is helping its customers meet their decarbonisation goals because it produces high-quality, high-CV coal that offers more energy efficient and lower emissions outcomes than other coal products.

“Our long-life mining assets will supply our customers in Asia and support our local communities in Australia for decades to come,” it says.

Whitehaven says its coal is fuelling plants in Japan that emit about 44 per cent less carbon dioxide equivalent than coal-fired power plants in Victoria.

Whitehaven is also benefitting from what it sees as a long-term underinvestment in coal supply, combined with strong global demand. That demand intensified this year with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Although coal production has been hampered by La Nina over the past year, Whitehaven had a win this year in ramping up its supply channels after being granted primary approvals for its Vickery development project in NSW and progressing plans for its Winchester South metallurgical project in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.


25. Dexus (DXS)

dexus

Real Estate
2021 rank: 21
Market Cap: $8.5b
FY22 revenue: $2.3b
FY22 profit: $1.6b
Listed: 2004
CEO: Darren Steinberg
CEO salary: $5.3m

From two major projects in Sydney’s upcoming Tech Central precinct to a redevelopment of Brisbane’s iconic Eagle Street Pier site, Dexus (ASX: DXS) is transforming Australia’s urban landscape one glitzy, giant building at a time.

Construction has now begun from Dexus’ appointed builder Built-Obayashi on the Atlassian Central development – a modern, green building that was originally pitched as the world’s tallest hybrid timber tower, although a rival development in Perth has since bested that claim, at least in the planning stage.

“This building will push the boundaries of what the future of workplace looks like and how it works, adopting leading sustainability credentials,” said outgoing chairman Richard Sheppard at the group’s AGM in October, the day before he was replaced by Warwick Negus.

This year the group also received development approval for Central Place Sydney next door to Atlassian Central, while the group has a project development pipeline estimated at $17.7 billion, split roughly 60-40 between the Dexus portfolio and third-party funds.

Dexus is not only driving growth through developing projects and collecting rent on its portfolio properties, but is also busy on the acquisition front. Following a $320 million deal to acquire APN Property Group in 2021, in April 2022 Dexus agreed to acquire AMP-owned Collimate’s real estate domestic infrastructure equity business.

The deal involves a $250 million upfront consideration plus an earnout of up to $300 million, but working towards getting the transaction over the line has taken its time.

“Over the past quarter, we have been working with AMP and third party stakeholders to achieve the conditions precedent required to finalise the acquisition of the AMP Capital platform, with completion expected shortly,” CEO Darren Steinberg said at the October AGM.

“We now expect circa $18 billion of funds to transfer across from the AMP Capital platform. The earn out amount payable by Dexus has reduced to a maximum of $25 million and will be finally assessed 9 months post completion.

“Our next phase of growth will be underpinned by the AMP Capital transaction which will position Dexus as a leading real asset manager.”

At the time of writing the transaction is yet to be finalised, but Dexus believes its funds under management will increase to $63 billion across real estate and infrastructure assets upon completion, alongside expectations the third-party funds business will grow to approximately $44 billion with investments across pooled funds, joint ventures, mandates and listed funds.

At the time of writing, the most recent update on 15 November 2022 noted” significant progress” had been made by both Dexus and AMP to satisfying the necessary conditions.


26. GPT Group (GPT)

GPT Group CEO Bob Johnston

Real Estate
2021 rank: 25
Market Cap: $8.42b
1H22 revenue (operates on a calendar year): $101.78m
1H22 profit (operates on a calendar year): $11.34m
Listed: 1971
CEO: Bob Johnston
CEO salary: $2.93m

Logistics assets have become fertile ground for the property sector, and GPT Group (ASX: GPT) is among the many majors reaping the benefits.

Although the majority of its funds have been invested in logistics for some time, GPT ramped that up even further last financial year – from 41 properties to 69 by number.

GPT sought to accelerate its investment in this property category early last year when it secured an $800 million partnership agreement with QuadReal Property Group. The partnership’s strategy has been to acquire and develop a high-quality portfolio of prime Australian logistics assets which CEO Bob Johnston at the time said was benefitting from ‘structural tailwinds’.

The GPT QuadReal Logistics Trust earlier this year expanded its investment target to $2 billion due to continued robust conditions in this niche property sector.

When announcing GPT’s interim FY22 profit in August, Johnston revealed that vacancy rates for logistics assets in Sydney had fallen to 0.3 per cent and in Melbourne to 1.1 per cent.

“Limited availability and continued demand for space have resulted in market rents rising significantly,” he told shareholders.

The GPT QuadReal Logistics Trust has already completed two new projects this year and has four more in development with two expected to be completed by the end of this year and the others in 2023.

In the retail sector, GPT scored a couple of wins this year after securing the management rights to UniSuper’s $2.8 billion retail and office portfolio. This includes Karrinyup Shopping Centre in Western Australia, Marrickville Metro and Dapto Mall in NSW, and Malvern Central in Victoria. Office assets include 7 Macquarie Place and a 25 per cent interest in Brookfield Place in Sydney’s CBD.

GPT landed another win in September by securing the management rights to Pacific Fair shopping centre on the Gold Coast. Cbus Property and UniSuper, majority co-owners of Pacific Fair, also transferred to GPT the management of AMP Capital Retail Trust. UniSuper and Cbus Property own the majority of the trust, which has full ownership of Pacific Fair and 50 per cent interest in Macquarie Centre in Sydney.

Meanwhile, rumours abound that Johnston may be looking to hang up his spurs at GPT after seven years in the top job. GPT has not responded to market chatter that the recruitment feelers are out.

However, if Johnston does decide to leave, he will be among a stream of departures of property CEOs in the past year including Stockland’s (ASX: SGP) Mark Steinert and more recently Mirvac’s (ASX: MGR) Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz.


27. Seven Group Holdings (SVW)

Seven Group Holdings CEO Ryan Stokes
Seven Group Holdings CEO Ryan Stokes

Capital Goods
2021 rank: 29
Market Cap: $7.61b
FY22 revenue: $8.01b
FY22 profit: $607.4m
Listed: 2010
CEO: Ryan Stokes
CEO salary: $5.27m

An investment in Seven Group Holdings (ASX: SVW) provides exposure to a diverse portfolio of businesses from building materials and energy to media.

With the exception of the company’s majority stake in Boral (ASX: BLD), it’s been a year of solid earnings performance for the company which is headed by Ryan Stokes.

Seven Group last year snared a 72.6 per cent stake in Boral with plans to simplify the building materials business and turn its focus to the domestic Australian market. Boral this year offloaded its US businesses and returned $3 billion in capital to investors, which immediately reduced Seven Group’s debt on the acquisition.

The group, which takes a long view on its investments, concedes Boral’s business has been underperforming. But as new chairman Terry Davis told Seven Group shareholders, the strategy ‘sometimes requires foregoing immediate profits in return for sustainable long-term growth’.

Davis took over as chairman of the company after the retirement of Kerry Stokes last year. Since acquiring a controlling interest in Boral, Ryan Stokes has been appointed chairman of Boral.

As a diversified holding company, Seven Group Holdings has identified three key areas of exposure for the business - mining production, through Caterpillar equipment dealer WesTrac; infrastructure, through Coates Hire and Boral; and energy, through a 30 per cent stake in Beach Energy (ASX: BPT) and SGH Energy which has oil and gas interests in Australia and the US.

Seven Group also has a 39 per cent interest in the Stokes family’s other key business, Seven West Media (ASX: SWM), which through the acquisition of the Prime network now reaches more than 90 per cent of the Australian viewer market.

Meanwhile, speculation this time last year of a potential sale of the Coates business by Seven Group Holdings via an IPO failed to eventuate. It’s just as well because Coates was a solid performer during the year with growth recorded across all geographic areas of the business.  

The Coates division’s $1.8 billion equipment rental fleet, the largest in Australia, is described by Seven as an ‘economic moat’ that deepens as inflation ‘increases the equipment purchase cost for any competitors’.


28. Worley (WOR)

Worley CEO Chris Ashton

Energy
2021 rank: 36
Market Cap: $7.59b
FY22 revenue: $9.7b
FY22 profit: $172m
Listed: 2002
CEO: Chris Ashton
CEO salary: $4.8m

As a contractor to the energy, chemicals and resources sector, Worley (ASX: WOR) is at the forefront of initiatives by industries commercially driven to make themselves more sustainable.

The group, one of the world’s biggest providers of professional project and asset services, is expanding its activities in renewable energy and sustainability projects at a faster rate than conventional assets.

Worley says it has noticed increased commitments by corporates to lower-carbon business models following COP26 in Glasgow last year.

The growth is being led by the energy sector, especially the European Union’s push for energy security, which helped boost Worley’s sales pipeline by 30 per cent in FY22. Sustainability projects led the way with a 57 per cent increase in slated work volumes, compared to a 6 per cent lift in traditional contracts.

The sustainable workbook now accounts for more than half (57 per cent) of Worley’s total sales pipeline, up from 47 per cent in FY21.

Leading with its chin, Worley took a $14 million hit this year from the Ukraine conflict after pulling out of its existing operations in Russia and declining new contracts from Russia. Among the business activities exited was the delivery of engineering services to the Sakhalin Island oil and gas projects in Russia’s east.

But the company says the push in Europe for alternative energy sources provides new opportunities for growth. This is evident in a bigger market share of the sustainability sales pipeline in Europe over the first six months of this calendar year. Europe represents 56 per cent of the pipeline at the end of June, up from 48 per cent in January this year.

Business growth led to the company increasing its headcount to more than 51,000 in 46 countries in FY22. This is up from 47,700 people in 49 countries a year earlier.

Worley says traditional and sustainability work continues to increase, with sustainability investment growing at a higher rate.

The challenging geopolitical environment is actually playing to the company’s strengths by elevating the need for energy independence and security of supply. Worley says it is fielding opportunities in areas such as early phase work in integrated gas and renewable energy sources.

Work in progress for Worley includes concept feasibility study services to develop a green hydrogen energy project in Oman, as well as engineering and procurement services to support Shell’s work to lower the carbon intensity of its Gulf of Mexico portfolio, which is already among the lowest in the world.


29. Ampol (ALD)

Energy
2021 rank: 31
Market Cap: $6.7b
1H22 revenue (operates on calendar year): $17.33b
1H22 profit (operates on calendar year): $719.3m
Listed: 1980
CEO: Matt Halliday
CEO salary: $4.92m

It seems that with or without fuel excise relief, demand for fuel by Australians motorists remains a constant.

Fuel retailer and refiner Ampol (ASX: ALD) reported that Australian retail and wholesale demand was largely unaffected by the return of the fuel excise levy in the September quarter.

But more broadly, interest rates started to bite earlier in the year as revealed by the company in its half-year results as volumes were affected in part by a reduction in discretionary travel.

Although Ampol operates one of only two remaining oil refineries in Australia, at Lytton in Brisbane, the group still has an eye on the country’s oil-free future.

This year, Ampol announced its new electric vehicle charging brand, AmpCharge, with plans for a national rollout of a fast-charging network across its sites.

Ampol hopes to establish a market-leading EV charging network in Australia by 2030, including a fleet offer for business customers. It is initially targeting 120 sites by October next year as part of an agreement with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency announced in 2021.

In October, Ampol partnered with Hyundai to provide its EV car owners access to charging offers across Ampol’s AmpCharge network. The move is also aimed at accelerating the adoption of EVs through fleet purchases by corporate and government clients.

Ampol is also moving to support New Zealand’s energy transition following its NZ$1.97 billion ($1.84 billion) acquisition of fuel retailer Z Energy in May this year.

The Australian company is investing NZ$125 million ($116.5 million) over the next five years on e-mobility solutions, infrastructure to support the distribution of biofuels and other terminal infrastructure to help facilitate the transition.

Ampol had to sell its New Zealand petrol distribution business to Sydney-based investment manager Allegro for NZ$572 million ($533 million) to facilitate the Z Energy acquisition.

Ampol has since sold a 49 per cent interest in Z Energy’s 51 freehold New Zealand properties to Charter Hall Retail REIT (ASX: CQR) for NZ$126 million ($117.5 million). The move extends Ampol’s existing property partnership with Charter Hall in Australia.


30. Charter Hall Group (CHC)

Property
2021 rank: 27
Market Cap: $6.38b
FY22 revenue: $1.1b
FY22 profit: $911.1m
Listed: 2005
CEO: David Harrison
CEO salary: $8.5m

Property investor and developer Charter Hall (ASX: CHC) continued on its acquisition spree during the FY22 period, taking its already substantial portfolio to even greater heights.

The company celebrated its funds under management (FUM) cracking the $50 billion mark for the first time in FY21. That’s since ballooned even further, with CHC’s FUM as at 30 June sitting close to $80 billion - of which $65.6 billion is in the property space - making Charter Hall the holder of the largest sector-diversified commercial property portfolio in Australia.

This was again driven by CHC’s acquisitive nature; during the last financial year the company completed $8.5 billion worth of transactions in more than 90 deals across multiple of its specialised funds.

Of these acquisitions, noteworthy deals include the purchase of a half stake in the Southern Cross two-tower complex in Central Melbourne, and more than $100 million spent snapping up industrial assets in South Australia.

According to CHC’s CEO David Harrison, the group’s crown jewel in terms of its FUM is the company’s $1.7 billion Chifley South premium office development in Sydney.

Earlier this year, the second tower in that precinct received the go-ahead from the Sydney Council, bringing the project one step closer to reality.

The second tower will sit adjacent to the existing Chifley North building, offering more than 64,000sqm of gross floor area for both office and retail uses, as well as a reactivated public domain at Chifley Square.

“This development is a great example of our ability to provide our investor customers access to new investment product and enabling them to deploy capital into unique opportunities,” Harrison told shareholders at the company’s November 2022 AGM.

“This capability is a significant attraction for capital and driver of future growth for the group.”

Charter Hall was also active in off-market transactions over the last 12 months, including the completion of the takeover of ALE Property Group, and more recently the privatisation of Irongate Group. Combined, Charter Hall says these created another $3.5 billion of assets under management.

“Our ability to execute upon these complex transactions for the benefit of our investors is a key capability of the group and a continuation of the group’s history of being able to complete successful M&A activity,” Harrison said.

According to the company’s chair David Clarke, sustainability is central to ‘how the company conducts business’.

Along those lines, the group made headway in its transition away from fossil fuel energy sources to power its buildings by partnering with global energy giant Engie Group.

As part of the deal, Charter Hall will buy 151GWh of renewable energy a year from wind and solar farms - enough to power about 26,000 average homes - to be used across 152 office, retail and industrial properties over which the group has direct operational control. The agreement is poised to collectively reduce carbon emissions by 70 per cent on those sites once it becomes active in 2024.

Clarke added that the company has introduced sustainable finance structures early in 2021 that recognise the environmental performance of its assets, with these loans reaching $2.5 billion in value at the end of FY22.


 

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Market caps are based on the close of trade, 2 December, 2022. This list was prepared with information provided by the ASX.

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