Thanks for the article swap - here is the full story from 'The...

Thanks for the article swap - here is the full story from 'The Australian':-

Source: www.theaustralian.news.com.au

CFS Retail eyes $300m Galleria in Perth
Maurice Dunlevy | July 14, 2008

COLONIAL First State's $7.6 billion CFS Retail Property Trust is trying to buy a $300 million half-share of Centro's Galleria shopping centre in Perth.

A jewel in the crown of the once all-conquering Centro Properties Group, Galleria is one of four major shopping centres Centro is offloading for more than $1.1 billion.

CFS Retail Property Trust, already one of Australia's largest shopping centre owners with a portfolio that includes Melbourne's Chadstone and Sydney's Chatswood Chase, emerged as a serious contender for Galleria last Thursday when prospective buyers were required to submit first bids.

Centro will keep a 50 per cent share in Galleria because it wants to retain management rights to the centre.

Desperately needing to repay debt, Centro has ordered its selling agent, Jones Lang LaSalle, to fast-track the sales process for all four properties. Jones Lang LaSalle is expected to execute final contracts on August 15, a day after final bids close.

Colonial First State would not comment yesterday, but sources close to the Perth sale said CFS Retail Property Trust and another major retail property owner, who was not named, were the most likely buyers.

CFS Retail Property Trust has 25 retail assets, but less than 2 per cent of its portfolio is in Western Australia. Its single major asset is Perth's Rockingham City Shopping Centre.

Galleria, a 72,484sqm operation in the northeastern Perth suburb of Morley, is among Australia's largest -- and most profitable -- major regional shopping centres.

In 1996 Westfield Trust paid almost $290 million to Coles Myer and Galleria co-owner Colonial Mutual Life.

Centro purchased Galleria in 2003 as part of a three regional shopping centre purchase for $736 million.

Perth's booming economy has since made Galleria one of Australia's highest grossing regional shopping centres.

Galleria has a moving annual turnover, a measure used by the industry to gauge the profitability of centres, of almost $434 million. Centro's slightly larger 81,000sqm Bankstown centre in Sydney, which is part of the four-property sell-off, has MAT of $330 million.

A third property in the sell-off, the 66,115sqm Colonnades centre in Adelaide's south, has MAT of only $264 million.

Galleria also has the benefit of a $58.1 million development pipeline. Design documentation is well under way for new Target and Best and Less outlets, as well as other stores, in an expansion that includes an additional 521 car park spaces.

Galleria is one of two WA properties in the sell-off. The second is the 6037sqm Halls Head convenience centre near Mandurah.

All four properties are held by Centro in its Centro Australia Wholesale Fund.

With the exception of Centro Bankstown, which is 100 per cent controlled by the fund, the others are jointly owned by the Centro Retail Trust.


Ends.

Cheers, Pie :)