Charter Hall Buys Brisbane City Council Bus Network

Property giant Charter Hall has snapped up a prime infrastructure asset, the Brisbane City Council Bus Network in Eagle Farm for a total of $102.5 million.

The property has been jointly acquired by two Charter Hall funds, the ASX-listed Charter Hall Education Trust (CQE) and the Charter Hall Long WALE REIT (CLW).

Both funds purchased a 50 per cent interest in the asset, for $51.25 million each, reflecting a passing yield of 5 per cent, with fixed annual rental increases of 2.5 per cent.

The Eagle Farm asset, which spans a six-hectare site and was developed as a Bus Network Terminal facility in 2013, has a triple-net lease to the Brisbane City Council, with 19.2 years remaining.

The transport infrastructure supports around 24 per cent or approximately 8.1 million customers a year of Brisbane’s total bus network.

Charter Hall CQE executive director Nick Anagnostou said the transaction enhances its investment profile, which includes Charter Hall’s CIB Fund providing state government police and court accommodation.

“The Bus Network Terminal is consistent with CQE’s Social Infrastructure investments where, via Government financial sponsorship, an essential service that supports, among other things, employment generation and its sustainability, is provided to communities,” Anagnostou said.

Fund manager Avi Anger says the acquisition, which increases the proportion of income from government tenants to 20 per cent, is not expected to have any material impact on FY19 earnings.

The property is located in the tightly-held industrial TradeCoast precinct, which sits eight kilometres from the Brisbane CBD and one kilometre from Brisbane’s Airport.