Gandel offloads $500m stake in Charter Hall

Pauline and John Gandel flanked by granddaughters Jacqui Berman (L) and Lauren Thurin at the opening of the Chadstone shopping centre in 2009.

Retail property billionaire John Gandel has sold his near $500 million stake in the Charter Hall Group and its listed retail trust as he focuses his attention on the rival Vicinity Centres and his holding in Melbourne’s Chadstone Shopping Centre.

In two shock block trades revealed this morning, Mr Gandel is looking to pull $488m worth of securities from the Charter Hall property empire.

Both sales are fully underwritten by Macquarie Capital and the shares are being sold to third-party investors.

The Gandel Group said it had entered into a block trade agreement to sell 79.17 million Charter Hall securitie , which amounts to 19.18 per cent of the register.

The $396m deal has been set at a floor price of $5 per security and investors have been asked to bid up in 2c increments. The price is a 7.1 per cent discount to the last close on the stock (CHC).

Gandel has also struck a deal to sell its 5.65 per cent interest in Charter Hall Retail REIT (CQR). Macquarie has launched a $92m block trade in the trust, with the deal set at a fixed price of $4.02 per security, marking a 3.5 per cent discount to the last close.

Gandel offered Charter Hall the chance to participate in the Charter Hall Retail sell down.

Charter Hall has been a successful investment for Gandel and he noted that he had come on to the register in 2009 after the GFC and he paid tribute to the expertise of the group’s chief executive David Harrison in growing the business to a $17.5 billion property group.

“We are pleased to have contributed to the development of CHC and its strategy and believe the business is well placed to continue its success,” Gandel said in a letter.

The private group said the sale was part of its “broader corporate planning” and it would focus its resources and capital on Vicinity Centres and Melbourne flagship Chadstone Shopping Centre. It said its commitment to these investments was unchanged.