Billionaire developer Lang Walker's $2 billion-plus Collins Square project in Melbourne, comprising six commercial towers and the Southern Goods Shed, could be sold off separately rather than as a portfolio, according to media reports.
Collins Square is aimed to be Australia’s second largest commercial mixed use development, totalling 250,000 sqm, built above a 10,000 sqm retail podium, according to Walker's website.
While a portfolio acquisition – potentially by a club of buyers – would be the cleanest arrangement, the sale process was opened up recently to allow a piecemeal sell-down of assets, the Australian Financial Review reported, citing market sources.
First-round offers on the Melbourne development are due on Friday, after a one-month extension on the sale process for the divestment plan unveiled late last year. Walker is being advised by UBS.
There are more than 25 potential bidders in the fray for the portfolio, comprising local investors, offshore pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, the AFR said.
The broader break-up strategy also means a wider field of potential buyers, that would include local and offshore buyers.
As well as from Australia, interest has come from Singapore, Hong Kong, the US and Canada.
Two of the five towers in the portfolio are complete and fully tenanted. Two more are due to be completed by the middle of this year and the fifth tower in 2017.
Several blue-chip tenants are already committed, including Marsh Mercer, Transurban, KPMG, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Penguin Random House and Pearson, Maddocks, Link Group, Mott MacDonald and AECOM.
The portfolio could fetch more than $2 billion, on a cap rate of between 5 per cent and 5.5 per cent, comparing in scale to last year's sale of the Investa Property Trust portfolio for close to $2.5 billion to China Investment Corporation.
UBS is expected to take at least another six weeks to sort through the second round of bids, the AFR said.
