Chinese Investor JY Group Buys Half-Stake in Sydney Mall From Telstra Super for $78M

Chinese investor JY Group has added to its collection of Australian retail assets by picking up a 50 percent stake in a suburban Sydney mall for A$120.5 million ($78.2 million).

JY Group purchased its half-interest in the Carlingford Court shopping centre from Melbourne-based pension fund manager Telstra Super, as confirmed Tuesday in a LinkedIn post by deal broker Simon Rooney, head of retail capital markets for the Pacific region at CBRE.

A 50:50 joint venture of Telstra Super and mall operator Federation Centres, now known as Vicinity Centres, had acquired Carlingford Court from GPT Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund for A$177 million in 2013. Vicinity, which handles leasing and management at the mall, has retained its half of the ownership.

“Opportunities to acquire Sydney metropolitan, core, strong performing retail assets are rarely offered to market,” Rooney said, noting that the property is the first Sydney-based sub-regional property of its type to transact since 2019.

Apartment Potential

Built in 1965, the four-storey mall in the Carlingford suburb is 22 kilometres (13.7 miles) northwest of Sydney’s central business district. The property’s 99 tenants include big-box retailer Target and supermarkets Coles and Woolworths.

Carlingford Court spans 33,298 square metres (358,417 square feet) of gross lettable area, with JY Group’s acquisition price valuing the asset at A$7,238 ($4,682) per square metre of GLA.

The deal also offers a chance to undertake an apartment project on a vacant 1,762 square metre site next to the shopping centre, Rooney told the Australian Financial Review.

“Carlingford Court provides the potential for a mixed-use residential development in the longer term (subject to council approval), to strategically capitalise on the centre’s prime northwestern Sydney location and close proximity to Carlingford railway station,” the broker said on LinkedIn.

Growing Footprint

JY Group was advised on its stake purchase by Aussie law office Hamilton Locke. The Chinese firm co-invests in commercial properties alongside high-net-worth clients, according to the AFR, which identified a figure named Kai Zhang as the group’s co-founder.

The publication has tracked a series of mall acquisitions by JY Group since mid-2021, starting with the purchase of Casey Central in southern Melbourne for A$225 million in partnership with a fund managed by Australia’s Haben Property Group.

JY Group has since re-teamed with Haben to buy the Wollongong Central shopping centre for A$402 million, and the firm also acquired a half-stake in southwest Sydney’s 1965-vintage Roselands mall for A$167 million, the AFR reported.