One of Canada’s largest pension funds and prominent ASX-listed landlord Dexus are looking to offload around $1.2 billion worth of stakes in prominent Sydney and Melbourne office towers, the latest test for a marketIn Sydney, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is looking to sell down around 10 per cent from its holding in the $4.6 billion Lendlease International Towers Sydney Trust.
Separately, in a more straightforward offering, CPPIB and Dexus are putting up for grabs 385 Bourke Street in Melbourne, a 54,000 square metre office. The prominent tower overlooking Bourke Street mall is owned equally by the pair. The CBRE and CushmanBoth offerings are being put into a dislocated office market, where the discovery of fresh benchmarks for pricing is slow and painful.
On MSCI’s estimate, the bid-ask spread for major office assets has widened to a record 30 per cent in Sydney and Melbourne.Some prominent offerings, including stakes in Sydney’s Salesforce Tower and Australia Square, have so far failed to find buyers, while some other towers So far, landlords are holding the line, arguing that the best towers will ride through the disruption with little loss of value, while acknowledging secondary buildings unloved by tenants could suffer heavier write-downs.