MA Financial Buys Greater Brisbane Mall From QIC for $445M as Aussie Retail Stays Hot

Australia’s MA Financial Group has acquired a regional mall in the suburbs southeast of Brisbane from Queensland Investment Corporation for A$678.7 million ($444.5 million).

The transaction for the 44 hectare (109 acre) Hyperdome Town Centre complex in Loganholme represents the largest-ever sale of a 100 percent interest in a Queensland regional shopping centre, according to CBRE, which advised QIC on the disposal. 

Chris Lock, head of core real estate at MA Financial, said the deal reinforces MA’s growing presence in large-scale retail real estate, building on the firm’s recently announced acquisition from Blackstone of Top Ryde City Shopping Centre in Sydney alongside Singapore’s Keppel REIT. 

“We are very excited to secure Hyperdome Town Centre, which is one of Queensland’s largest and most strategic retail landholdings and the focal point of its local community,” Lock said in a release.

Regional Renaissance

Located 25 kilometres (16 miles) southeast of central Brisbane, the Hyperdome Town Centre site includes the Hyperdome Shopping Centre, Hyperdome Home Centre, peripheral properties and 9 hectares of surplus land, according to MA. The complex is 98 percent leased and anchored by retailers including Coles, Woolworths and Aldi.

The purchase was made at a fully leased yield of 7.25 percent and came amid a flurry of deals targeting regional shopping centres in recent weeks, including Charter Hall’s A$152.5 million purchase of Southport Park in Queensland’s Southport and the A$180.1 million buy of HomeHQ Artarmon in Sydney’s North Shore by superannuation fund Aware and fund manager Barings.

In October, SGX-listed Keppel REIT revealed its acquisition of a 75 percent interest in Top Ryde City Shopping Centre for A$393.8 million as its first pure-play retail asset, with MA picking up the remaining 25 percent stake and serving as the asset manager and property manager of the mall in northern Sydney.

In June, QIC announced its divestment of a Melbourne mall, Woodgrove Shopping Centre, to US-based PGIM Real Estate and Australia’s Assembly Funds Management in a A$440 million deal following a 28-year carry by the state-backed player.

“CBRE anticipate that more than A$5 billion in regional shopping centres will transact nationally in 2025, supported by strong retail investor sentiment and resilient retailer performance that is expected to carry into 1Q 2026,” said Simon Rooney, the consultancy’s head of retail capital markets for the Pacific.

Retail Spree Continues

Hyperdome Town Centre is held in a single-asset fund that is fully subscribed with A$405 million of equity, according to MA. The fund targets an average 9 percent distribution yield and annual returns of 16-18 percent over its forecast five-year term.

MA will take responsibility for the management of Hyperdome Town Centre, including property and development management, with certain roles to be retained by QIC, which had full ownership of the asset since 2013.

The deal boosted MA’s total retail real estate transactions to a combined A$1.2 billion since the firm’s acquisition of IP Generation, a Melbourne-based commercial real estate fund manager, in September.