Dexus Industrial REIT has moved to sell off a non core asset in Rhodes announcing the sale of 1A and 1C Homebush Bay Drive, Rhodes, NSW.
The sale will realise gross proceeds of $160.5 million which is a 15% discount to the FY22 book value and a 21% discount to the previous year book value. Based on the previous valuation cap rate of 5.88%, the transaction reflects a much softer market yield of 7%. The property is currently 50% vacant and a clear drag on performance of the REIT.
The property is one of two major Business Park Assets in the REIT, with Brisbane Technology Park also suffering low occupancy rates at 88% and must also be considered ready for a sale as the REIT moves to focus on pure industrial assets.
DXI Fund Manager, Alex Abell said: “The sale progresses our strategy of creating Australia’s leading industrial REIT, enhances balance sheet resilience and reduces income risk across the portfolio, and following the anticipated cancellation of surplus debt facilities, the next refinancing event will not be until mid-2024.”
Proceeds will be utilised to repay debt, which will strengthen the balance sheet, reducing pro-forma gearing by approximately 7 percentage points and increasing pro-forma interest rate hedging by circa 20 percentage points.
Upon completion of the sale, DXI’s portfolio will comprise 92 assets valued at $1.5 billion. 88% of the portfolio will be invested in high quality industrial and logistics assets, which continue to benefit from strong rental growth driven by record low vacancy and constrained supply. The weighted average lease expiry will increase to 6.2 years and occupancy to 98.7%.
Settlement is expected at the end of November 2022, and DXI maintains its FY23 guidance for Funds from Operations of 16.7 – 17.5 cents per security, and distributions of 16.4 cents per security.
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