NZ's Goodman Property Trust sells VXV portfolio to Blackstone funds (updated)

Goodman New Zealand and Goodman Property Services

17/05/2018 22:26

* 88,000 sqm VXV portfolio comprises seven office buildings
    * Singaporean fund GIC holds 49 pct of VXV portfolio via a
JV firm
    * Deal comes after rumoured Blackstone purchase of HNA
Group's
Sydney building 

 (Adds background on Blackstone Group's recent activity)
    By Aaron Saldanha
    May 18 (Reuters) - New Zealand's Goodman Property Trust
(GMT)  GMT.NZ  will sell its majority-held VXV office portfolio
to a number of Blackstone  BX.N  funds for NZ$635 million
($436.44 million), in the U.S. private equity giant's latest
move further into Oceania. 
    The deal was announced by the property trust's manager,
Goodman (NZ) Ltd, on Friday and represents a move away from
commercial property for GMT in the country as it reorients
itself closer to Auckland's industrial market.
    The VXV portfolio is owned by Wynyard Precinct Holdings Ltd,
a joint venture firm held 51 percent by GMT, with Singapore's
sovereign wealth fund, GIC, holding the balance.
    The manager said both firms agreed to the sale, which is not
expected to have a material impact on GMT's earnings or
distributions for fiscal year 2019. The manager did not name the
Blackstone funds involved in the sale.
    The VXV portfolio includes seven low-rise office buildings,
totalling about 88,000 square metres.
    "With an expected loan-to-value ratio of below 20 percent
following this sale, we have substantial capacity for future
development and investment opportunities,” said John Dakin,
chief executive officer of GMT's manager.
    Dakin said that following the deal and other contracted
sales, GMT’s NZ$2.2 billion portfolio will be almost fully
invested in the industrial market of New Zealand's largest urban
area.
    While Blackstone has been active in the Australia-New
Zealand region, the Goodman deal marks the latest move in the
countries' real estate space for the alternative investment
firm's largest fee-grossing line of business.  
    According to sources, a Blackstone unit was the buyer when
indebted Chinese conglomerate HNA Group  HNAIRC.UL  announced
the sale of a Sydney office building for A$205 million ($154.00
million) earlier this year. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1PL2GR
    The growth of Blackstone's real estate business has been a
factor in former real estate head and Blackstone lifer Jon Gray
being named its chief operating officer and president in
February.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N1Q3152
    Beyond the real estate space, Australian automotive
aftercare firm AMA Group  AMA.AX  sold its vehicle panel repair
arm to funds advised by Blackstone in April for an enterprise
value of A$508 million.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1RQ29R        
 ($1 = 1.4550 New Zealand dollars)
 ($1 = 1.3312 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Aaron Saldanha
Additional reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru
Editing by Leslie Adler and Chris Reese)
 ((Aaron.Saldanha@thomsonreuters.com; +91-80-6749-1130; Reuters
Messaging: Aaron.Saldanha@thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))