Cromwell Sells Sydney Office Tower for $68 Million

ASX-listed Cromwell Property Group has sold an office tower in the Sydney CBD for $68 million to the Real Estate Capital Asia Partners IV Fund, which is managed by the SC Capital Partners Group.

The predominantly Government tenanted property, located at 4-6 Bligh Street, has a net lettable area of 9,964 sqm, positioned on a 1,220 sqm land site, and has a weighted average lease expiry of approximately three years.

The 17 upper floors have floor plates of approximately 490 sqm, with the three lower levels ranging from 634 sqm to 994 sqm. The ground floor has two retail tenancies and a basement level carpark accommodating 21 vehicles.

Cromwell CEO Paul Weightman said: “We acquired the asset as part of the Government Property NSW portfolio in 2014.""It is a trophy asset in the heart of the CBD and we had been actively considering a range of value-adding opportunities before taking the asset to market for sale.”

Mr Weightman said the Group would continue to look for opportunities to improve its $2.2 billion portfolio of direct property assets.

“The current market provides a range of opportunities and we will continue to actively manage the portfolio to deliver strong, stable, risk-adjusted returns for our investors.”

Fortius Executive Chairman Ray Sproats commented: “Bligh House has excellent property fundamentals in a prime location within Sydney’s financial core, including a number of value add strategies available in the medium term.”

Andrew Heithersay, Managing Director, SC Capital Partners added: “Our RECAP IV Fund has been busy deploying some of its US$850 million of equity, including four investments in Australia over the last eight months.""In addition to Bligh House, recent acquisitions include 2 Meredith Bankstown, Rydges Darwin Airport Hotel and Resort, and a 50 per cent stake in Harbour Town Docklands Melbourne."Cromwell acquired the Government Property NSW portfolio for $405 million in 2014.

The portfolio included the McKell Building on the edge of Sydney's Chinatown and Bligh House, as well as government office buildings in Penrith, Wollongong, Newcastle and Queanbeyan. The Bligh Street sale is expected to be settled on 11 August 2015.