Charter Hall Retail REIT has acquired a 49% interest in a portfolio of 51 service stations across New Zealand for $120 million, while selling its stake in a Coles Distribution Centre in Adelaide.
The convenience retail portfolio was leased to Z Energy, which would retain the outstanding 51% interest.
More than three-quarters of the portfolio’s assets were located in metropolitan areas.
Ampol acquired the Z Energy business in New Zealand earlier this year.
Charter Hall said the deal expanded the REIT’s relationship with Ampol, growing its exposure to income from triple net leases directly linked to CPI.
The transaction reflected a 5.5% cap rate, and featured annual NZ CPI rent escalations and a 15.3-year WALE.
The REIT divested its 52% interest in the Coles Distribution Centre in Adelaide to a Charter Hall-managed fund and will use the $95.3 million in proceeds to pay for the deal.
Charter Hall Retail CEO Ben Ellis said they continued to actively curate the CQR portfolio to drive earnings growth for investors.
“CQR’s investment in the CDC has been highly successful,” Ellis said.
“We’re now looking to take advantage of strength in the demand for industrial and logistics assets and to recycle these proceeds into an attractive NNN portfolio of Long WALE convenience assets with CPI exposure.
“Following the settlement of these transactions, 37% of major tenant rent reviews are CPI based and 33% NNN leases.
“These two transactions have both been secured off-market and are a result of Charter Hall’s strong tenant and investor partnerships.”
The deal followed the REIT’s purchase of a 49% stake in an Ampol fuel station portfolio for $50.5 million late last year.
That portfolio comprised 20 triple net leased (NNN) Ampol fuel and convenience retail centres, with 75% of the assets situated in metropolitan and commuter metro locations. Ampol retained the remaining 51% interest.
Other service station deals include the sale of a service station in Narwee, Sydney for $8.3 million earlier this month, as well as the sale of a service station development in the Melbourne suburb of Tarneit for $19.91 million in February.
