K-Reit buys Brisbane property

LISTED office trust K-Reit Asia has made its first overseas purchase with the acquisition of a 50 per cent stake in a building in Brisbane.

K-Reit Asia paid A$166 million (S$210.4 million) for the stake in the Grade A commercial development, located in the city’s Central Business District at 275 George Street. The price paid was the same as the appraised value.

The co-owner of the property is the Charter Hall’s Core Plus Office Fund (CPOF). The Charter Hall Group is a property fund management and development company listed on the ASX, with A$3.2 billion of funds under management. It was recently included in the S&P/ASX 200 Index.

The building comprises 40,317 square metres of Grade A commercial office space over 30 levels and 1,431 sq m of quality retail space. Overall, the building is 99.4 per cent leased.

The office tower is 100 per cent leased, with 10-year lease commitments by Australian firms Telstra Corporation and Queensland Gas Company.

Chairman of K-Reit Asia’s manager, Professor Tsui Kai Chong, said: ‘We are pleased to have made our maiden commercial investment outside Singapore… This acquisition marks our first step towards becoming a pan-Asian real estate investment trust (Reit).’

Ms Ng Hsueh Ling, chief executive of K-Reit Asia Management, added: ‘The acquisition of this yield accretive asset will augment K-Riet Asia’s asset size by about 10 per cent, from $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion.’

Source : Straits Times – 1 Feb 2010