Archive for the ‘Property Acquisitions’ Category

property blog - property acquisition

SURFERS Paradise bar, restaurant and nightclub complex Melbas on the Park has been sold to Queensland-based entities controlled by Michael McFie of the McFie Group for about $16.5 million.

McFie Group bought Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain Lodge earlier this year from GPT Group and owns a raft of hospitality and entertainment assets.

CB Richard Ellis agents Craig Harley, Mark Witheriff and Joel Fisher negotiated the sale of the Cavill Avenue property and nightclub business on behalf of receivers Jamie Harris and John Cronin from McGrathNicol.

Melbas on the Park has been a Gold Coast institution for nearly three decades.

It recently underwent a multi-million dollar expansion to create a new restaurant, cocktail bar and lounge with 40 gaming machines. Read the rest of this entry »

property blog - property acquisition

LEND Lease said today it is part of a consortium which is the preferred bidder for the $1.4 billion ING retail property fund.

The fund owns 14 shopping centers in Australia and New Zealand, including Perth’s $450 million Joondalup Shopping City. In recent months the fund has sold three assets: Brisbane’s Wynnum Plaza and the Endeavour Hill and Geelong Homemaker centers.

Australia’s largest property developer has been on the lookout for distressed assets while property development financing and construction is constrained, and ING Groep NV has said previously that it plans to sell its insurance and investment management businesses to concentrate on banking.

Lend Lease, which had $1 billion in cash on its books at June 30, will contribute up to around 20 per cent of the capital needed for the deal, with the rest coming from its managed funds and capital partners, Investment Management chief Tarun Gupta said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires. Read the rest of this entry »

Property Blog - GPT group

LISTED property trust GPT Group has sold its loss-making British funds manager Halverton for just 2 ($3.20) after paying about $100 million for the business more than two years ago.

The deal will also involve GPT handing €7m to the buyer, London-based fund manager Internos Real Investors.

That represented working capital, reflecting Halverton loss-making position and funding requirements for the restructuring program, GPT said yesterday.

GPT bought a half-stake in Halverton in 2005 when it entered into a joint venture with the failed investment bank Babcock & Brown as part of its European expansion plans.

The remaining 50 per cent was acquired in June 2007 for about $100m, with Halverton managing the assets in the joint venture. But the business was valued at zero in June, and in August the group said that it was up for sale. At the time, executives indicated they did not expect to obtain anything for the asset. Halverton is expected to suffer a loss of €8.9m in 2009 and further losses are expected in 2010 and 2011 because of staffing costs and a restructuring program. Read the rest of this entry »

Lend Lease Corporation Ltd is set to obtain the remaining shares in Lend Lease Primelife Group (LLP), after the retirement homes group’s shareholders approved Lend Lease’s 35 cents per share offer.

Under the agreement, Primelife shareholders will receive 35 cents for each security, with payment due on December 23.

Lend Lease chief executive Steve McCann said the deal will cement the company’s position in the retirement homes sector.

“This acquisition consolidates Lend Lease’s position in the senior living sector, a sector identified as a growth opportunity for the group,” Mr McCann said.

“Our focus will now be on enhancing Primelife’s position in owning, operating and developing product for the senior living sector.”

Lend Lease is expected to carry out a thorough review of the Primelife business. Read the rest of this entry »

Demand for home loans is set to decline in the year ahead as interest rates creep higher and investors stay on the sidelines, a report says.

The value of all new home loans was expected to fall by $14.4 billion in the 12 months to September 2010, down 8.8 per cent from the same period a year earlier, a report by independent consultants Market Intelligence Strategy Centre (MISC) says.

“This will reflect a slower return of investor lending and still strained funding, which will restrict small-lender activity, as well as further rate increases,” the MISC report released on Monday said.

An MISC spokesman said the $14.4 billion decline, if realised, would be the largest total fall since 2003, when the value of all new home loans written backpedalled by about $35 billion.

The bulk of the contraction was expected to take place in the December and March quarters, before the property market returns to growth in June next year.

“The bottom of the market will not be reached till the March 2010 quarter,” the report said. Read the rest of this entry »