Westbridge Funds Management has completed its purchase of an industrial asset in Welshpool, Perth on behalf of a new fund for $37.465 million.
Located at 404 Orrong Road, the Orrong Road Business Estate comprised 9,930 sqm of gross lettable area on a 55,723 sqm site.
The fully leased estate had 11 tenancies including Kennards Hire and United Petroleum and a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 4.6 years.
It was located 11 minutes away from Perth Airport, eight minutes from Kewdale Intermodal Freight Terminal, and was surrounded by a large residential catchment.
The property was bought on behalf of the newly launched Welshpool Property Fund, which boosts Westbridge to more than $640 million in assets under management.
“Industrial property in Perth was performing strongly before COVID-19, and the pandemic has only served to bolster what is rapidly shaping up as an undersupplied market,” Westbridge Funds Management Chairman Damian Collins said.
Collins said the Welshpool Property fund team believed the nature of the site provided exciting opportunities to add value through repositioning and further development.
“Near-term this includes the development of a brand new 3,000 square metre warehouse. Additional asset enhancement opportunities include increasing lettable area and income, coupled with the potential for further development in the future,” Collins said.
A strong appetite remains for industrial real estate, with a Charter Hall fund recently buying an SPC industrial property in Shepparton, Victoria for $66 million through an off-market sale and leaseback deal.
Other industrial deals include the recent Logos-led acquisition of two industrial development sites in Sydney and Melbourne, offering an estimated end value of $640 million.
Stockland bought two logistics sites in Sydney’s southwest for $128.5 million and LBP Developments sold a industrial development site in Revesby in Sydney for $16.3 million.
Centuria Industrial REIT acquired a portfolio of six urban industrial assets located across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane worth a combined end-value of $132.4 million last month, following its purchase of four industrial properties across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane for $129.4 million last November.
In Queensland, Gateway Capital bought an industrial site in Brisbane for $28 million and SC Capital Partners snapped up an industrial asset on the Gold Coast for $23.2 million last year.
There have also been some significant industrial portfolio deals such as Blackstone’s purchase of GIC’s 49% stake in the Dexus Australian Logistics Trust for about $2.1 billion and Blackstone’s $3.76 billion Milestone industrial portfolio sale last year.
