Propertylink acquires $98m industrial portfolio

The Sydney-based industrial property investment management firm has made the investment via its second value-add vehicle.

Propertylink, the Sydney-based investment management firm, has acquired a portfolio of industrial assets in Australia for a total of A$135.3 million (€87 million; $98 million).

The industrial property-focused firm has made the investment using capital from its second value-add vehicle, the Propertylink Australian Industrial Partnership (PAIP) II. The portfolio of eight assets has been acquired from Charter Hall at a yield of 8.7 percent. The assets are mostly located in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland.

“We are seeing significant demand from institutional investors both in Australia and offshore for exposure to these type of industrial properties at scale and with value-add potential,” said Stuart Dawes, chief operating officer and head of investment management for Propertylink. “This portfolio of assets is an ideal fit for PAIP II and helps to underpin our target of double-digit returns for our investors who are seeking quality yields in a global environment of long-term low interest rates.”

Peter McDonald, executive director and head of property at the firm further added that “75 percent of the tenants in the portfolio were either publicly listed companies, multinational companies or Australian Government departments that helps to provide a strong security of cash flow.”

PAIP II was launched in September last year with a cornerstone investment from the Cleveland-based advisory and investment firm The Townsend Group. The firm is understood to be targeting A$300 million in fundraising for the vehicle and A$700 million worth of total assets. Via the vehicle the firm has been buying industrial property that benefits from long leases as well as assets with shorter duration tenancy where a value-add strategy can be adopted.

PAIP II is a successor to PAIP I that attracted $160 million of equity in 2014, including from Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs and the London-based property company Grosvenor.