AA Reit in exclusive due diligence to acquire Woolworths HQ in Sydney

AIMS APAC Reit (AA Reit) is in exclusive due diligence to acquire the national headquarters of Australian supermarket and grocery chain Woolworths, said its manager on Thursday morning.

In a clarification note announcement filed to the Singapore Exchange, the manager emphasised that no decision has been made, and no binding agreement has been entered into, regarding the property's proposed acquisition. There is also no certainty that AA Reit will acquire the property, it added.

This comes in response to "certain media reports" of the real estate investment trust's (Reit) proposed acquisition.

Located in Bella Vista, north-west Sydney, Australia, the Woolworths site was first reported by Australian media in June 2021 to have been put up for sale by Inmark Asset Management. The Australian-Korean investment and fund manager bought the property from Mirvac for an A$336.5 million (S$333.3 million) consideration in 2016.

Agents from CBRE and Colliers were appointed to steer the sales process.

According to a June 15, 2021 press statement from CBRE, the 44,911 square metre (sq m) Woolworths campus sits on nine hectares of land and comprises three office buildings linked by a central atrium. It offers a net lease to Woolworths and a weighted average lease expiry of 10 years from November 2021.

A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU

Tuesday, 12 pm

Property Insights

Get an exclusive analysis of real estate and property news in Singapore and beyond.

Sign Up

CBRE also highlighted an estimated 28,000 sq m of commercial office floor area which it said was available to be further developed in accordance with the initial masterplan consent.

More recently, a number of news articles dated Sept 8 published online and accessed by The Business Times on Thursday named AA Reit as the buyer of the Woolworths site for over A$450 million.

This included Australian media outlets Realestatesource.com.au as well as the Australian Financial Review. As at 9am on Thursday, the latter source had indicated that the sale transaction is believed to be the largest for an Australian suburban office - and is "on the verge of being sealed" with AA Reit being in exclusive due diligence to buy the property.

Units of AA Reit were trading S$0.04 or 2.6 per cent lower at S$1.49 as at 9.45am on Thursday, after its latest clarification announcement was made.