Forest Hill Chase among Blackstone targets

Private equity giant Blackstone is poised to pick up the lion’s share of a $900 million-plus portfolio being offloaded by shopping centre giant Vicinity Centres, with the group in line to bolster its holdings with the purchase of three major centres along the eastern seaboard and Mirvac Group likely to add to its Queensland retail stable.

Vicinity in February launched a campaign to sell the centres in Queensland and Victoria and the split has emerged as the pair capitalise on the desire of the Angus McNaughton-led retail trust to sell up to $1 billion of non-core properties.

Simon Rooney of JLL is handling the process but declined to comment, as did the company, Blackstone and Mirvac.

Blackstone is believed to be targeting the purchase of Clifford Gardens Shopping Centre in Toowoomba, Queensland, and two Victorian assets — the Brimbank Shopping Centre in Deer Park, and Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre at Forest Hill.

Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre has been valued at $269.8 million. Picture: Vicinity Centres.

Clifford Gardens is a single level subregional shopping centre about 125km from Brisbane. The centre, valued by Vicinity at $188 million, is anchored by Big W, Woolworths and Coles.

The $165.2 million Brimbank Shopping Centre is a single level subregional centre in Melbourne’s northwest and is anchored by Woolworths, Coles, Target and Aldi.

The $269.8m Forest Hill Chase is a three-level regional shopping centre in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs and is anchored by Coles, Woolworths, Big W, Target, Aldi, Hoyts and AMF Bowling.

Blackstone last year bought three Australian malls — Figtree, Strathpine and Warrawong — from Scentre Group. The group’s retail holdings include Top Ryde City shopping centre, secured from receivers for $341 million in 2012, and since overhauled, and Melbourne’s Greensborough Plaza.

Angus McNaughton’s Vicinity Centres is selling off prime assets.

It is readying to offload a $220 million portfolio of homemaker centres but the growing scale of its portfolio has prompted speculation that it could eventually refloat the assets.

Mirvac, meanwhile, is eyeing the purchase of the Toombul Shopping Centre in Nundah in Queensland. Toombul is a two-level regional shopping centre about 10km northeast of the Brisbane CBD and was valued at $228.3 million. It is anchored by Target, Kmart, Aldi, Coles and BCC Cinema complex.

This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.