Sun Venture Buying North Sydney Office Building From Sumner Capital for $96M

Sun Venture has agreed to acquire a North Sydney office building for A$148 million ($95.9 million), marking the Singaporean investment firm’s first acquisition in Australia.

The 10-storey office block at 50 Miller Street is a Grade A building comprising 10,441 square metres (112,386 square feet) of office accommodation and ground floor retail, Sun Venture said Wednesday in a release.

The seller, Sydney-based investment manager Sumner Capital, refurbished the formerly Grade B building and secured long-term leases from the US government and flexible office provider WeWork.

“50 Miller Street is a high-quality, well-tenanted building strategically positioned to benefit from enhanced transport connectivity and urban transformation plans in the area,” said Ong Jeun Jye, head of real estate for Sun Venture. “We are delighted with our first acquisition in Australia. We have confidence in the market and look forward to building our presence and portfolio here.”

Fully Leased and Repositioned

The A$148 million agreed price for 50 Miller Street reflects a yield of 5.5 percent and a capital value of A$14,175 ($9,180) per square metre, according to Sun Venture.

A listing on Sumner Capital’s website says the Aussie firm originally purchased the building in the northern extension of Sydney’s CBD for A$60 million. The listing gives a current value of more than A$160 million for the fully leased asset, which provides a 10-year weighted average lease to expiry.

“Having fully repositioned the asset it was the right time to sell it and recycle the capital into other opportunities,” said Sumner Capital principal Kirby Parsonage.

The NABERS five-star building is two minutes by foot from 73 Miller Street, a 13-storey office block acquired by ESR and Partners Capital from UBS in a A$400 million deal that closed last month. Both properties are a short walk from the North Sydney railway station and the future Victoria Cross rapid transit station.

Buying at Home and Abroad

Sun Venture’s maiden investment Down Under follows several property deals undertaken by the Singaporean firm in recent months.

At home, the investment manager has been locked into exclusive due diligence to buy the 15-storey Bugis Junction Towers above the Bugis MRT Interchange from Angelo Gordon and TCRE Partners for a price close to S$680 million ($480 million), Mingtiandi reported in June.

Earlier that same month, news broke that Sun Venture had agreed to sell the Westgate Tower in Singapore’s Jurong East to US fund manager AEW for S$680 million.

In February, Sun Venture completed its acquisition of a central London office building from a WeWork fund for £148 million ($201 million). The purchase of 120 Moorgate marked the firm’s third London buy, following its £552 million acquisition of the 1&2 New Ludgate office complex in December 2020 and the £174 million it paid for the One New Oxford Street office and retail development in the midtown area in July of that same year.