Charter Hall's office fund wins best direct property fund award

Property fund manager Charter Hall Group’s Direct Office Fund has been awarded the best direct property fund at the Money Management/Lonsec Fund Manager of the Year Awards.

DOF is the flagship fund for the Charter Hall Direct business, returning an average of 18.2% per annum (on Wholesale A Units) compared to the benchmark (MSCI/IPD Australian Unlisted Wholesale Property Fund Index) of 12.3% per annum since 2014, said Charter Hall.

Its portfolio includes 11 fully leased office buildings in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth valued at more than $1.1 billion.

According to Charter Hall, the DOF’s investment strategy includes buying Australian commercial real estate assets which are on long leases with quality covenants.

DOF recently leased several floors in the glass wall skyscraper, 1 Nicholson Street, on the northern edge of Melbourne CBD for an eight-year term.

Charter Hall Direct head Steven Bennett said the award from research house Lonsec was proof the fund was delivering strong risk- adjusted returns to investors.

“This award is a testament to the Charter Hall Direct team that seeks to provide investors with market leading direct property investment opportunities that are usually only available to wholesale investors,” he said.

“We continue to witness strong interest in DOF with more than $200 million equity raised since September 2016 from high net worth, self-managed super funds, investors in retail super and pension platforms and advised investors.”

He said Sydney and Melbourne assets accounted for more than 80% of the fund’s portfolio.

The fund has received strong ratings from independent research houses, with ‘Highly Recommended’ by Zenith, and ‘Highly Recommended’ by Lonsec.