South Koreans close to selling Coca-Cola Place
South Korea’s National Pension Service is edging closer to selling two major office towers in North Sydney and Melbourne worth more than $500 million.
The group, represented by US firm PGIM Real Estate, has been in talks to sell its half-stake in 40 Mount St, the North Sydney building known as Coca-Cola Place, and has now attracted a private Chinese investor as the prospective buyer for Melbourne’s 595 Collins St tower for about $320 million.
The South Korean fund purchased the Melbourne complex in 2011, buying a 90 per cent stake in 595 Collins St from Investa and a fund it ran, in a deal valuing the whole asset at about $130 million.
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Investa originally kept an interest of about 10 per cent and stayed as property manager. But about three years ago PGIM bought out Morgan Stanley as the investment bank sold out of Investa and took on running the building itself.
The 17-storey building, completed in 1984, has 31,778sq m of space made up of two interconnected office towers, three ground-floor shops and 145 basement car spaces. In 2007, the building underwent a major refurbishment.
The building at 595 Collins Street, Melbourne.
The vendor and agents CBRE and JLL declined to comment.
In North Sydney, M&G Real Estate, which was eyeing the half-stake in Coca-Cola Place in a deal valuing the entire tower at close to $450 million, is now in friendly talks with the tower’s co-owner Investa.
That group’s unlisted trust, the Investa Commercial Property Fund, holds pre-emptive rights, giving it the capacity to trump M&G. But Investa and the British funds manager could now work together on the A-grade buildings tower’s future.
Spanning 28,500sqm over 21 floors, the Mount St tower houses Coca-Cola Amatil and a mix of private tenants, including Goodman Fielder.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
