Login
Sale of HPG stake in Melbourne mall to settle in September
Highpoint Property Group has sold a 25 per cent stake in a Melbourne shopping complex for $680 million, with settlement expected in September.
Melissa Coade
Firms: Arnold Bloch Leibler (Highpoint Property Group); Herbert Smith Freehills (GPT Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund)
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Deal: Highpoint Property Group (HPG) has sold a 25 per cent stake in a Melbourne shopping centre to GPT Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund (GPT Group).
Value: $680 million
Area: Property, corporate
Key players: The ABL team advising HPG was led by managing partner Henry Lanzer. ABL partners Ken Gray (pictured) and Ross Paterson also advised on the deal. Senior associates Dorian Henneron and Laura Cochrane also assisted.
HSF Sydney partner Nicholas Cowie acted for the GPT group.
Deal significance: The Highpoint Shopping Centre and Maribyrnong Homemaker Centre is one of the biggest in Australia, comprising 153,000 square metres and with an annual moving turnover of close to $1 billion.
In April, Fairfax reported that HPG was reviewing its ownership of the shopping complex. HPG chairman Marc Besen said at the time that “the Besen family has enjoyed a strong relationship with GPT over the last 10 years and our shared interest in Highpoint has been very successful for both owners."
The company was bought out of a 25 per cent stake in the Melbourne shopping mall, known as Highpoint, for $680 million. The purchase will bring the GPT Group’s ownership of the shopping centre to 100 per cent. Settlement of the deal is expected to take place later this year in September.
ABL property and development head Ken Gray said that HPG has been a long-standing client of the firm. “We were very pleased to bring together a multidisciplinary team to assist our long-standing client on this significant transaction in the retail property space,” Mr Gray said.
