Centuria buys Manning Mall in $34.85m deal with Elanor

Property funds group Centuria Capital has bought the Manning Mall from an unlisted Elanor Investors Group-run fund at a steep discount compared with the last time it changed hands.

Centuria Capital has bought Manning Mall in Taree from an unlisted Elanor Investors Group-run fund for $34.85m

Property funds group Centuria Capital has snapped up Manning Mall on NSW’s central coast from an unlisted Elanor Investors Group-run fund for $34.85m – a steep discount compared to the last time it changed hands.

Elanor has been suspended from trade on the Australian Securities Exchange since August after difficulties in managing its debt position. It sold off its stake in the Elanor Commercial Property Fund to billionaire Paul Lederer and he also backed an equity raising by that trust.

Elanor has also been refinancing other debt, accepting terms from funds manager Keyview Financial Group for a new $125m secured term debt facility to refinance the balance of its existing secured debt facility and unsecured corporate notes.

Centuria picked up the subregional shopping centre from the unlisted Elanor Property Income Fund, which has been selling down assets. The unlisted fund also sold Glenorchy Plaza for $19.75m and distributed the proceeds to investors in July. Of that sum, $17.2m was used to repay the debt and $1m went to selling costs and settlement adjustments.

The Elanor fund also struck a put and call option deed to sell Northway Plaza, north of the Bundaberg town centre, in regional Queensland, for a gross price of $18.59m, after it was acquired for $19m in 2016. The deal was brokered by JLL’s Jacob Swan and Ned McKendry, who were uncontactable.

Centuria will set up a closed-ended fund to hold Manning Mall. The 10,800sq m shopping centre was secured at a 62 per cent discount to replacement cost. It is anchored by a high-performing Coles supermarket, which generates annual sales well above the chain’s store average, with a long-term lease expiry ending 2034.

The centre also includes a Target, 27 specialty stores, four kiosks and 422 on-grade parking spaces. Listed and national retailers comprise 64 per cent of gross annual income. The centre has a near five-year weighted average lease expiry and 94 per cent occupancy.

Colliers agents James Wilson and Ben Wilkinson handled the sale of Manning Mall.

Centuria joint chief executive Jason Huljich said Manning Mall was a counter-cyclical investment opportunity for the company’s network of wholesale and wealthy investors.

In May, Centuria acquired Halls Head Central in WA, buying the subregional shopping centre for $70m – a 40 per cent discount to its replacement cost. It set up a trust to hold the centre that was oversubscribed in a sign of demand for such assets.

The single-storey Manning Mall is in the heart of Taree on a 29,740sq m freehold island site and Centuria is also looking at remixing the tenants. The Centuria fund is targeting an equity raise of $21m.