Cromwell Property in the running for Centro syndicate Florence Chong From: The Australian September 11, 2010 12:00AM
BRISBANE-based Cromwell Property Group has emerged as one of seven bidders for part of Centro Group's funds management business.
Other contenders for the business are said to include Charter Hall and possibly Colonial First State, AMP and Challenger, which have retail distribution networks. It is believed that the Centro board is likely to decide on a shortlist of bidders next week.
But a Centro spokeswoman declined to comment. Cromwell has also declined to comment.
The successful bidder would take over Centro's unlisted syndication business, which manages up to 32 retail syndicates. The syndicates had assets totalling $4.12 billion, collectively, at the end of December 2009 and carry an average debt ratio of 61 per cent.
Cromwell, which last month walked away from Orchard Funds Management, after undertaking due diligence, is one of the most successful property syndicators in a sector that ground to a halt during the global credit crunch.
In April, Cromwell successfully launched a syndicate -- its first since 2003 -- raising $91 million to purchase the $173m Energex House in Brisbane.
At the time, Cromwell chief executive Paul Weightman said the fund managers who launched syndicates in 2006 and 2007, at the peak of the property boom, were now in damage control.
Cromwell, which has $1.3bn under management, seems to enjoy strong capital support from its largest shareholder, South African group Redefine Properties, which recently raised about pound stg. 84m ($140m) in South Africa, through its listed subsidiary Redefine Properties International. Redefine is South Africa's second-largest listed property company.
