The disposition will enable Oxford to gather enough capital as an investor in other to forge new opportunities emerging in the local market. Oxford, which has a record of sounding out major commercial towers acquisitions in gateway cities, will look to recycle the proceeds to finance the growth of its existing portfolio as well as future acquisitions. “We have carefully identified a collection of high quality, well-located properties for sale that we believe will be very attractive to the market,” Oxford Properties Group director Alec Harper said. The scale of the sell-down is significant because it indicates Oxford could realise enough capital from the process to enter the fray again as an investor in other opportunities emerging in the local market. “This will enable our team to focus on the assets that most closely align with Oxford’s overall global investment strategy,” Harper said. “I provides us the opportunity to recycle sale proceeds to fund growth in our existing portfolio as well as future acquisitions of on-strategy, premier assets in Australia’s gateway cities.” Cushman & Wakefield's Josh Cullen and Mark Hansen have been appointed to advise on the overall sell-down process. Cushman & Wakefield national director Josh Cullen highlighted that the assets on offer had been exceptionally well-managed by Investa, contributing to the significant in the properties. It is now expected that the listed properties will be sold individually or in small groups, rather than as a single portfolio, as Oxford looks to maximise its return from the 10-asset collection. “We believe that bringing the assets to market as a collection provides scale that offers additional investment potential for market participants on this already attractive offering,” Cullen said. Related: Morris Property Launches $500 Million New Canberra Precinct
Oxford Properties, the real estate unit of Canada's OMERS pension fund, will sell AUD1.5bn ($4.4bn) worth of high-quality office buildings in Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra. The 10 properties are set to be sold individually, and have been chosen from the Investa Office Fund's portfolio, acquired by Oxford in late 2018 for $1.06bn. The company said returns from the divestments will be used to support current and future projects.