Paul Lederer's LDR Capital eyes $305m deal for Mirvac's Sirius complex
Billionaire Paul Lederer is looking to put his stamp on the office market with a potential purchase that could play into his move on a listed office trust run by Elanor.
Billionaire Paul Lederer is looking to put his stamp on the office market with the purchase of the Sirius complex in the Canberra suburb of Phillip from listed giant Mirvac for about $305m.
The block’s sale would be one of the largest office deals of this cycle, with the impending purchase by his LDR Capital operation to effectively reset the national capital’s office market while also giving Mirvac capital to pour into its development pipeline.
The billionaire, best known as a co-owner of the A-League’s Western Sydney Wanderers, made a play for the Elanor Commercial Property Fund in August and property players initially suggested that the tower in the ACT could end up the trust if he eventually won full control.
But the canny investment group could also set up a separate structure, given Mr Lederer’s substantial wealth, estimated at $1.98bn in The List.
This derives from the fortune he made with his family business, Primo Smallgoods, as he made it into an Australian food giant before it was mostly sold to private equity in a $740m deal in 2011. It was then all sold to Brazil’s JBS for $1.45bn in 2014. Mr Lederer later built up the Real Dairy Australia food distribution business.
His Lederer Group family office, branded LDR Capital, has a portfolio of commercial properties in NSW, Queensland and the ACT and has been active in retail property.
Mr Lederer this year laid out ambitions of turning around Elanor’s listed office fund, when he was trying to take it over and steer it away from the grip of its troubled manager.
The billionaire, who owns an interest of about 43 per cent in the trust after his takeover bid bolstered the stake he amassed after he came in as a white knight last year, is still believed to hold ambitions for the fund.
During the takeover battle, he flagged plans to either win control of the trust entirely, and move to delist it, or win the support of enough investors that he can take control and grow it.
His move on the listed fund had been criticised by its independent directors, but the fund manager has struggled to stabilise its own platform.
The ACT complex had a book value of $335.7m and was held at a capitalisation rate of 6.75 per cent. Real estate agencies Colliers and JLL, who are handling the sale of the offices at 23 Furzer Street, and the parties, declined to comment.
Elanor has previously defended the performance of the commercial property fund and noted that Lederer Group’s hostile takeover attempt had been unsuccessful. The company had blamed the challenging office real estate market, which was hit by the pandemic, the rise of work-from-home, and a high-interest rate environment for its woes.
Lederer Group has attacked both the disclosure and quantum of fees paid by the office trust to Elanor but the manager has rejected these claims and said they are in line with the market.
Originally published as Paul Lederer's LDR Capital eyes $305m deal for Mirvac's Sirius complex
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