centros gold coast sale hits a hurdle

Centro's $75m Gold Coast sale hits a hurdle

CENTRO's widely anticipated $75 million Southport shopping centre sale has hit a speed bump and a deal may be months away.

The Gold Coast shopping centre remains in exclusive due diligence to an undisclosed buyer, but a sale the market expected to be finalised within weeks has been delayed.

The timing of the delay is not fatal for Centro but will do little to ease tensions at the company, which is in the run-up to a September 30 deadline in which it must must reach agreement with lenders for the terms on which assets can be sold.

In June lenders owed more than $2.77 billion extended Centro's debt deadline until December 15. That extension was granted after additional liquidity facilities totalling $155 million were provided by its bankers.

According to Centro insiders, next month's deadline is equally important to the group's survival.

Australian financiers and US private placement holders want to be satisfied that Centro can implement a strategic plan based on property disposals.

Centro Southport is jointly owned by the Centro Retail Trust and the Centro Wholesale Fund and was expected to be the first to go.

Final bids are due today for three of Centro's largest properties, in a sell-down expected to realise around $1.1 billion.

They are the Galleria shopping centre in Perth, the Bankstown Centre in Sydney's southwest and Colonnades in Adelaide's south.

A convenience centre is also for sale near Mandurah in Western Australia.

Centro is pushing to have the sales finalised before the September 30 deadline, with sale contracts expected to be executed immediately.


http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24176609-25658,00.html