Black Swan founders dip in for Lalor Coles sale

A Lalor supermarket owned by the family that founded Black Swan dips has sold for $7.43 million.

The Coles supermarket, which anchors the Lalor Plaza shopping centre, sold at auction to a local buyer of Hong Kong descent.

The Saristavros family sold out of Black Swan in 2014 and bought the Coles two years later, but have now offloaded it in a sale that marks the second major single-tenanted supermarket transaction in Victoria this year, after Coles Lara was sold for $21.5 million in April.

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Three bidders competed for the property at auction after agents fielded more than 130 enquiries.

The owners tapped CBRE’s Justin Dowers, Rorey James, Kevin Tong and Joseph Du Rieu, along with Gross Waddell’s Michael Gross and Alex Ham, to market the supermarket.

The Coles supermarket at Lalor.

Du Rieu says there has been a noticeable lift in interest in retail investments after the federal election.

“We have witnessed increased confidence in buyers seeking single-tenanted retail investments since the May federal election, with many taking a more pro-active approach to purchasing following the Coalition government’s re-election,” Du Rieu says.

The property at 22 McKimmies Rd makes up 40% of the shopping centre’s footprint, and is located about 18km north of Melbourne’s CBD.

Tong says

“The purchaser was a domestic investor with Hong Kong heritage, who was attracted to the ASX covenant that Coles provides and the metropolitan location of Lalor.”

“Over the past 12 months we have noticed increased interest in supermarkets from Asian capital, with our team also transacting the Woolworths in Scoresby and Woolworths in Burwood East to Asian based investors.”