Forrest's Tattarang sells out of Perth logistics park
Andrew Forrest’s family office, Tattarang, has made swift and successful exit from a Perth logistics estate it bought into only three years ago, winning interest from busy fund manager Charter Hall in a deal worth as much as $300 million.
At stake is the sprawling Roe Highway Logistics Park, which sits on 72 hectares next to Perth’s industrial suburbs, Kewdale and Welshpool.
In 2019, Tattarang’s property division, Fiveight, came in as the largest investor in the industrial estate, alongside Western Australian developers Adrian Fini and Ben Lisle’s Hesperia Group and developer and asset manager Gibb Group.
Then in May this year, estate agents CBRE were tapped to broker a sale of the logistics park as its owners looked to realise their gains, as reported by the Street Talk column. The exit price for the entire project was pitched about $250 million to $300 million. With the deal still under wraps, neither Tattarang, nor Charter Hall nor CBRE responded to requests for comment on Monday.
The estate, built on re-zoned rural land, is well located with direct rail and truck access. It lies 13 kilometres from Perth CBD and five kilometres from the Perth airport. Lots in the estate are rented or sold, with occupiers including oil and gas company BP, Swedish metal engineering giant Sandvik and pallets business Bramble’s CHEP brand.
The real estate was originally acquired from a group of local landowners for about $120 million in total by Linc Group, which merged two years with Fini Group to form Hesperia Group.
The deal comes as the long boom in industrial investment shows no sign of slowing. Australia has the tightest logistics market in the world. All the major capital cities recorded falls in vacancy rates over the first half of 2022, led by Perth which registered a 130 basis points contraction to 0.5 per cent.
The exit from the logistics park comes as Tattarang’s property arm, Fiveight, busily pursues a number of acquisitions and developments in Western Australia and elsewhere. Earlier this year it took over a long-standing Perth retail hub, Carillon City, from ASX-listed Dexus in a transaction worth about $80 million.
Fiveight’s steadily growing portfolio of trophy assets includes a luxury wellness retreat outside Byron Bay in NSW, acquired last year from Olivia Newton-John and her co-owners for an estimated $30 million.
Other prize assets include the Indiana Tea House at Perth’s Cottesloe Beach, The Swan Brewery, also in Perth, and the proposed Ningaloo Lighthouse Resort near Exmouth on Western Australia’s North-West Cape.
Fiveight, partnered by Australian Capital Equity, is also the preferred proponent for the redevelopment of the 8.5-hectare East Perth Power Station precinct on the banks of the Swan River.
