Blackstone finds buyer for Waverley Gardens

Blackstone has found a buyer for Waverley Gardens in Victoria for $178M having paid $140M for the asset in 2014. The buyer, Elanor Investors Group, has set up a new fund with Heitman to hold the asset. The transaction is estimated to reflect a 6% yield.

Waverley Gardens is a well-established 39,554-square-metre sub-regional shopping centre located in a strong population growth corridor, 25 kilometres southeast of the Melbourne CBD. It is anchored by Woolworths, Coles and ALDI supermarkets and two discount department stores​. The Centre sits on a 10.6 hectare parcel of land alongside the M1 motorway

Blackstone acquired the asset on a 7.7% yield as part of a $390M non-core portfolio asset sell off by Mirvac. Mirvac provided a 4 year vendor loan to Blackstone of $156M at an initial rate of 8% pa.

The sale of the asset comes as Blackstone's continues to hold a larger slices of retail assets than they would like following their decision last year to shelve the $3 billion sale of its Australian portfolio of regional and sub-regional shopping centres, which included Top Ryde, Greensborough Plaza and Westfield Warrawong, Strathpine and Figtree.

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