Japan’s Kanden Backs Corval’s $30M Purchase of Brisbane Industrial Estate From Dexus

One of Osaka’s largest developers has teamed up with Corval to purchase a Brisbane industrial estate, according to an announcement by the Sydney investment manager on Tuesday, with market sources pricing the partners’ purchase of the Acacia Gate Industrial Estate from ASX-listed Dexus at A$41 million ($30 million).

The purchase of the property at 29-41 Lysaght Road is the fifth acquisition for Corval’s second industrial infill fund, with Kanden Realty & Development, the real estate division of Osaka’s Kansai Electric Power, having taken a cornerstone stake in the e-commerce-linked strategy. 

The property in Acacia Ridge is fully leased and is close to major transport links in an established industrial area in the South East Queensland growth corridor, according to a statement from Corval, which serves as the real estate arm of the family office of Australian rich lister Andrew Robert. 

“This acquisition represents another strong addition to the Industrial Infill Trust 2 portfolio and reflects our continued conviction in Australia’s urban infill industrial sector,” said Corval senior fund manager Michael Hua. “Acacia Ridge is one of Brisbane’s most strategically important industrial precincts, underpinned by strong transport connectivity, constrained supply and ongoing occupier demand.”

Corval said it was in due diligence for a sixth asset for the Trust 2 fund, which is expected to increase the portfolio’s value to about A$130 million as it builds exposure to e-commerce assets in the states of Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia. The trust is aiming to buy properties in urban infill locations with constrained supply, as occupiers target space near their customers. 

Infill Site Demand

Population growth in Australia’s suburban areas is driving demand for infill industrial sites near major centres with as much as 4 million square metres (43 million square feet) of warehousing space needed over the next five years, according to Corval. The vacancy rate in industrial sites in Australia is at an historic low of 2.5 percent, the investment manager said. 

“These metropolitan locations, close to a tenant’s end customer, are in high demand from occupiers and land is very tightly constrained,” the company said on the information page for the Corval Industrial Infill Trust 2. 

Spanning 18,627 square metres (200,499 square foot) of net lettable area, Acacia Gate Industrial Estate is about a half-hour drive south of central Brisbane with the 32,400 square metre site currently hosting four separate buildings. The property is fully occupied and provides net income of A$2.45 million with a weighted average lease expiry of 2.3 years. The sale price translates to A$2,201 per square metre of net lettable area and a yield of 6 percent, according to Mingtiandi calculations.

Trust 2, an unlisted, closed-ended wholesale fund, was seeded with three assets valued at A$79.2 million in Sydney and Perth, according to an executive summary. The trust aims to replicate the performance of the Corval Industrial Infill Trust, which was started in 2021 and bought assets in five Australian capitals with a gross value of A$250 million, Corval said.

Japan Power Investor

Kanden Realty and Development has been an investor in Corval’s funds since early 2022, according to a statement from the property management company of Kansai Electric Power, which supplies power to the Osaka region in Japan. Kanden Realty develops, manages and invests in property in Japan and overseas. 

The Acacia Ridge sale was handled by Colliers agents including Gavin Bishop, head of industrial & logistics capital markets in Australia, Sean Thomson, David Brisk and Nick Evans, Corval said.

The property was held in the Dexus Wholesale Australian Property Fund. Dexus, which declined to provide a comment on the transaction when contacted by Mingtiandi, regularly sells assets as part of its capital and portfolio management. 

Dexus said in May that it is taking on a logistics joint venture on the outskirts of Melbourne that may require as much as A$10 billion of investment, ranking the project as the largest industrial estate ever announced in Australia.