ESR, Partners Group Sell Logistics Estate on Australia’s Gold Coast for $137M

ESR and Swiss private equity firm Partners Group have sold a last-mile logistics estate in Australia’s Gold Coast to Brisbane-based developer Shayher Group, with the disposal marking HKEX-listed ESR’s fourth Aussie logistics transaction in four months.

Shayher, the local affiliate of Taiwanese developer Pau Jar Group, acquired the Gold Coast Logistics Hub for a reported A$200 million ($137 million), or A$3,377 per square metre. The property was developed on a site acquired in late 2017 by funds managed by Partners Group and Aussie industrial developer Logos Group (now part of ESR).

“GCLH is a world class last-mile logistics estate providing an immediate depth of stabilised core assets, located in one of Australia’s strongest growth markets,” said Gavin Bishop, head of Australia industrial and logistics capital markets at Colliers, which brokered the transaction alongside CBRE.

The transaction comes after Australia logged A$2.6 billion of industrial transactions in the second quarter, marking the strongest three-month period for the sector since April through June 2022 and exceeding the ten-year quarterly average of A$1.7 billion, according to a July report from Cushman & Wakefield.

ESR declined to comment on the transaction, while Partners Group and Shayher Group had not responded to Mingtiandi inquiries by the time of publication. News of the deal was reported earlier by The Australian.

Six-Year Development

Situated on Captain Cook Drive in the suburb of Arundel, approximately 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) from the Gold Coast central business district, the seven-building complex recently reached practical completion and spans 59,218 square metres (637,417 square feet) in gross lettable area.

The freehold property has a weighted average lease expiry of 6.32 years and generates annual net income of A$1.5 million, with Australia Post, Amazon, media and entertainment firm Village Roadshow, and Australian logistics providers Team Global Express and Toll Group on the facility’s tenant roster.

Logos and Partners Group acquired the 22.16 hectare site in December 2017 from consumer goods giant Colgate-Palmolive for a reported A$20 million and broke ground on the facility in 2018. The partners sold seven small lots totaling 26,000 square metres to a number of owner-occupiers and developers the following year.

Last month, ESR sold a stake in the 11-asset Logos Australian Logistics Venture portfolio, which is held by a joint venture with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, to a vehicle managed by Japan’s Hankyu Hanshin Properties and an unnamed Malaysian fund for A$536 million.

In August, ESR set up a JV with Japanese developer Mitsubishi Estate for a A$175 million industrial estate in Melbourne’s southeast suburb of Pakenham. That venture was announced a month after ESR sold the Gateway Industrial Estate in north Sydney to Australia’s Arrow Capital Partners for A$101.8 million.

ESR completed its buyout of Logos after acquiring the remaining 13.6 percent equity stake held by co-founders and co-CEOs Trent Iliffe and John Marsh, as well as former Southeast Asia head Stephen Hawkins, in transactions that took place in July and June. Logos came under the ESR umbrella in early 2022 as part of the group’s $5.2 billion takeover of Singapore-based ARA Asset Management, which had acquired a majority stake in Logos in 2020.

In January, a logistics joint venture of Partners Group and US investment manager Realterm acquired an outdoor storage facility in Sydney with the two players teaming up again this month to acquire a Sydney property for A$28 million.

Aussie Logistics Heats Up

The disposal by ESR and Partners Group comes amid a flurry of Australian industrial transactions in recent months.

On Tuesday, US fund manager TPG Angelo Gordon agreed to acquire an 80 percent stake in a newly launched logistics partnership with ASX-listed Growthpoint Properties Australia for A$181 million. That deal was announced a month after US builder Cabot Properties expanded its Australia holdings with the purchase of a Sydney shed from LaSalle Investment Management for A$137.6 million.

In July, Goldman Sachs Asset Management acquired seven last-mile logistics properties across Australia for a reported A$200 million, while a JV of PGIM Real Estate and ASX-listed fund manager Elanor Investors Group agreed to buy a last-mile logistics site in a Melbourne suburb, in a deal also reported to be priced at A$200 million.

Those deals came a month after a Starwood Capital and Arrow Capital JV sold a portfolio of seven logistics assets near Sydney and Melbourne for A$166.8 million, while US investment manager Barings and Australian superannuation fund Rest teamed up in May to acquire an A$780 million industrial portfolio from ASX-listed Goodman Group.

Shayher Boosts Portfolio

The acquisition marks Shayher’s entry into the logistics sector, with the company’s existing portfolio comprising residential, office, retail and hospitality developments. The Aussie firm is backed by Taipei-based Pau Jar, a privately-held residential builder controlled by Taiwanese billionaire John Lin.

In 2022, Shayher acquired a Sydney office tower at 10 Barrack Street from Boston-based real estate investment manager AEW for A$199 million, while an entity linked to the developer bought the Homeworld Helensvale retail property in Gold Coast for A$265 million.

In 2021, Shayher bought the Q&A Centre commercial complex in Brisbane from government-owned Queensland Investment Corporation for A$395 million and picked up the Milton Green business park complex from funds managed by ASX-listed Dexus and Aussie pension fund Sunsuper (now part of Australian Retirement Trust) for A$427 million.

In addition to Taiwan and Australia, Pau Jar operates in mainland China, Vietnam, and Malaysia.