Sun Venture seals maiden Australian with $148m North Sydney tower

Supplied Editorial Sumner Capital and Prime Super are selling 50 Miller Street

Singapore investment firm Sun Venture has acquired 50 Miller St from Sumner Capital for $148m.

A Singaporean investor has tied up a deal to buy a North Sydney office block as other players look to invest in the burgeoning area.

In the latest play, Singapore investment firm Sun Venture has acquired 50 Miller St from Sumner Capital for $148m.

The deal was Sun Venture’s maiden investment in Australia and reflected a fully leased yield of 5.5 per cent, in keeping with the demand for the area as it is rerated. The transaction, brokered by CBRE’s James Parry, Hugh Thomson and Kenny Duncanson and JLL’s James Barber, Luke Billiau, Kate Low and Simon Storry, showed a capital value of $14,175 per sq m.

The complex at 50 Miller St is a recently refurbished freehold building comprising 10,441sq m of office space and ground floor retail.

Sun Venture head of real estate Ong Jeun Jye said 50 Miller St was a “high-quality, well-tenanted building strategically positioned to benefit from enhanced transport connectivity and urban transformation plans in the area”.

“We are delighted with our first acquisition in Australia. We have confidence in the market and look forward to building our presence and portfolio here,” he said.

Sumner Capital, and its partner Prime Super, decided to sell the asset after a full building upgrade with long term leases to the US consulate and WeWork.

Sumner Capital’s Kirby Parsonage said that “having fully repositioned the asset it was the right time to sell it and recycle the capital into other opportunities”.

Others have been buying in the area. LaSalle Investment Management in May swooped on the office floors in 88 Walker St, which the private Billbergia is developing.

Singapore’s Roxy-Pacific Holdings also snapped up the old Sony building from Albert Malki’s Intera Group, and a client of investment bank UBS also bought the $400m block at 73 Miller St from Asian warehousing giant ESR and Swiss-based Partners Group.

Lendlease is now in talks with several parties about them taking a stake of 25-50 per cent in the $1.4bn tower and retail complex it is building above the Victoria Cross Station ­development.