Singaporean property investment trust acquires Australian mall for $460 million

Currently the highest-priced shopping centre deal in South Australia

SPH Reit Management, a Singaporean property investment trust, has acquired a 50 percent stake in Westfield Marion Shopping Centre in Australia for AUD670 million (USD460 million). Deal Street Asia reported that this could be the highest-priced shopping centre deal this year in South Australia.

As the state’s biggest and only super-regional shopping centre, Westfield Marion has attracted 13.5 million visitors annually, boasting a 99.3 percent occupancy. It is situated 13 kilometres southwest of Adelaide’s Central Business District, encompassing 136,837 square metres of land area, with parking spaces for 5,549 vehicles.

Most of its tenants are national retailers, including Aldi, Big W, Bunnings Warehouse, Coles, David Jones, Events, Harris Scarfe, Kmart, Myers, Target, and Woolworths.

More: The biggest co-living space in Australia opens this November

Once the deal is finalised at the end of the year, the current co-owner of Westfield Marion Scentre Group Limited will be partnered with SPH Reit.

The shopping centre’s acquisition is part of SPH Reit’s tactic to expand its retail portfolio in Asia Pacific. By the end of last year, they acquired a mall south of Sydney for AUD181.9 million.

“The acquisition deepens SPH Reit’s presence in the Australian market and follows on from our first asset acquisition of Figure Grove Shopping Centre in December 2018,” said Susan Leng Mee Yin, SPH Reit Management CEO.