Steven Bennett

Charter Hall Direct’s Industrial Fund No.4 (DIF4) has announced the acquisition of two food manufacturing facilities on a 30-year sale and leaseback to leading food business Patties Foods for $141 million.

The sale and leaseback arrangement with Patties Foods provides for a 30-year triple net lease with fixed 3% annual reviews. The Portfolio consists of two properties including the world class bakery in Bairnsdale and fast growing ready meals facility in Pakenham, Victoria, with a combined site area of 27.2 hectares. The improvements comprise 46,175sqm of GLA (17% site coverage) including 41,478sqm of warehouse and total office area of 4,697sqm (10.2%) across both sites.

Patties Foods Group is one of the largest pie manufacturers in the world, producing some of Australia’s most iconic, market leading brands, including Four’N Twenty, Patties, Herbert Adams, Boscastle, Nanna’s, Ruffie Rustic Foods and Fitness Outcomes, for domestic and global export.

Patties Foods Chief Executive Office, Paul Hitchcock said: “The sale and leaseback is part of the business’s future growth strategy. Both facilities are critical to Patties Foods’ operations and this arrangement enables the company to invest in additional growth opportunities to support our people, business and brands. The business has recently entered new categories via acquisition, and we are now in a position to continue this expansion.”

Charter Hall CIO, Sean McMahon, said “The Patties Food portfolio acquisition continues our successful sale and leaseback strategy which has resulted in more than $10.0 billion of sale and leaseback transactions in the past 6 years.”

“Charter Hall through its strong relationships with leading corporate tenants in Australia continues to be dominant in the sale and lease back segment, unlocking exclusive opportunities for our investors. The Patties Foods acquisition also increases Charter Hall’s substantial portfolio in the food logistics sector joining groups including Coles, Woolworths, Metcash, ALDI, Inghams, Coca-Cola Amatil, Arnotts, and Marley Spoon.

“We actively seek out properties leased to tenants in the consumer staples and food logistics sector because our investors consistently tell us that they value the defensive and stable cashflows these properties generate over the long term” said Mr McMahon.

Charter Hall has been extremely active in the industrial market acquiring more than $2.3 billion in industrial and logistics facilities so far in FY21 and $6 billion in the past 3 years. Charter Hall’s total industrial portfolio now stands at $12.4 billion with a $2.3 billion development pipeline.

Charter Hall Direct CEO, Steven Bennett said “Charter Hall Direct Industrial Fund No 4 (DIF4) continues to grow and meet investor demand for high quality exposure to the resilient Australian industrial property market. The acquisition will see DIF4’s WALE extend to a market leading 12.3 years and DIF4 also benefits from the annual 3% rent reviews under the Patties Foods lease. The Fund is currently providing a distribution yield of 5.9% per annum to DIF4 investors.”

“The acquisition is consistent with DIF4’s strategy to acquire industrial properties leased to quality tenants on long terms leases” said Mr Bennett.

DIF4 is currently a $1.5 billion unlisted property fund, with capacity to grow to over $2.0 billion. DIF4 invests in a portfolio of quality Australian industrial and logistics properties with the aim to provide investors with sustainable and stable, tax advantaged income and the potential for capital growth from a portfolio with a 12.3 year WALE diversified by geography and tenant customer industries, with average property rental growth of 2.7% per annum and 99.9% occupancy.

DIF4 is currently open for investment providing the potential to receive sustainable and stable-tax advantaged income paid quarterly and the potential for capital growth.

DIF4 is currently available on the following platforms: Asgard, Direct, BT Wrap, BT Panorama, Macquarie, Netwealth, Hub24, Powerwrap, First Wrap, and North.

The transaction was jointly managed by Tony Iuliano & Adrian Rowse of JLL & Andrew Grant of Charter Keck Cramer.

Steven Bennett

Charter Hall Direct is pleased to announce that the Direct Industrial Fund No.4 (DIF4) has acquired 130-170 Andrews Road, Penrith in Sydney for $88 million, as part of a portfolio of sale and lease back deal with Owens-Illinois Australia (OIA).

Charter Hall through its strong relationships with leading corporate tenants in Australia continues to be dominant in the sale and lease back segment, unlocking exclusive opportunities for investors.

The sale and lease back agreement provides for a 20 year triple net lease, with fixed 3.0% annual rent reviews. OIA has recently announced that they are divesting their Australian operations to Visy, a leading packaging & resource recovery company. A wholly owned subsidiary of Visy will be the tenant once the deal is complete at the end of July.

Three properties were part of the deal, a Charter Hall wholesale fund simultaneously acquired 21 Simcock Avenue, Spotswood, VIC 3015 in Melbourne and 617-625 Port Road, West Croydon in Adelaide for a total of $126 million.

The DIF4 property is a glass manufacturing facility with an adjoining warehouse. OIA is the leading manufacturer of glass for the Australian food and beverage industry with clients including CUB, Asahi/Schweppes, Lion, Simplot, and Bega.

Charter Hall Direct CEO, Steven Bennett, commented “DIF4 continues to grow and meet investor demand for high quality exposure to the resilient industrial property market. This acquisition shows the strength of the Charter Hall Group acquisition pipeline, utilising the combined capacity of its suite of funds to secure properties not ordinarily available to retail, HNW and SMSF investors.”

DIF4 Fund Manager, Miriam Patterson said “The acquisition of the Penrith property enhances the Fund’s quality of income given the 20 year triple net lease, increases Sydney concentration and extends the Fund’s WALE to a market leading 10.8 years. The additional benefit of the triple net lease structure is that the landlord is not responsible for any ongoing costs in relation to the maintenance and upkeep of the property. The acquisition supports the current distribution yield of 6% available to investors in DIF4.”

DIF4 is currently open for investment with a minimum investment of $20,000, the potential to receive sustainable and stable-tax advantaged income paid quarterly and the potential for capital growth.

DIF4 is currently available on the following platforms:  Asgard, Direct, BT Wrap, BT Panorama, Macquarie, Netwealth, Hub24, Powerwrap, First Wrap, and North.

The creation of the Fund Manager role reflects the strong growth of Charter Hall’s Direct business from $3 bn to $5.3 bn in the past 18 months. Miriam will report to Direct CEO, Steven Bennett who sits on Charter Hall’s Executive Committee reporting to Group Managing Director and CEO, David Harrison.

Mr Harrison said “We are delighted to secure the services of Miriam who has 15 years’ experience in property and infrastructure and brings a diverse range of skills in portfolio and risk management, transactions, asset management and investment governance. Miriam will be an excellent fit for the Group as we grow the institutional quality of investments available to our Direct platform which has more than 20,000 retail, Self-Managed Super Fund (SMSF), High Net Worth (HNW) and family office customers.”

“We further expect Miriam’s experience to compliment the broader Group and her knowledge, experience and relationships in the wholesale market will be invaluable” said Mr Harrison.

Mr Bennett added “This is a key appointment for the Direct business. We are excited to see an executive of Miriam’s calibre to work with the whole Direct team to curate and grow our existing suite of funds, together with driving the growth of new offerings to our investors to give them diversity of investment choice across the property sector”.

Commenting on her appointment, Ms Miriam Patterson said, “I am thrilled to be joining one of the leading real estate investment platforms in Australia, which I have observed first hand having overseen Telstra Super’s investments in a number of Charter Hall’s funds and partnerships.”

“I look forward to working with the Direct team to take advantage of the exciting growth opportunities we are seeing to provide investors with secure, sustainable income streams underpinned by high quality, long leased properties” said Ms Patterson.

Miriam was appointed Telstra Super’s Head of Real Assets in May 2016, after almost 5 years as an investment manager, in the property and infrastructure investment team. As Head of Real Assets, Miriam was directly responsible for overseeing Telstra Super’s $4 bn real estate and infrastructure portfolio. Before joining Telstra Super, Miriam worked at Hastings Funds Management and Ernst & Young in corporate finance.

The fund owns and manages well located industrial properties in established markets, with an existing portfolio of eight properties in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia plus an equity interest in a Charter Hall managed wholesale investment partnership that invests in 33 institutional-grade distribution centres across Australia.

Key features of DIF4 include a current income yield of 6% p.a.1 and a fund WALE (weighted average lease expiry) of 10.4 years, among the highest in its class.

Lonsec notes: “The Fund seeks to benefit from growing tenant demand for long-term leases of large, well-located and adaptable industrial sites covering a variety of uses including logistics, distribution, storage, manufacturing and food processing.”

Further, “The portfolio consists of high-quality tenants and is currently 100% occupied. The portfolio is well positioned from a rental increase point of view, increasing by CPI or 3% p.a., which helps provide a natural inflation hedge. Additionally, all direct properties bar one are leased on a triple-net basis, whereby the tenant is responsible for all outgoings, including maintenance capital expenditure.”

“Charter Hall’s high-quality management team has a track record of delivering solid returns on direct property trusts” and the fund “has a conservative gearing target of 30% to 45% with a current LVR of 33%,” Lonsec notes.

DIF4 is currently open for investment with a minimum investment of $20,000, the potential to receive sustainable and stable-tax advantaged income paid quarterly and the potential for capital growth.

DIF4 is currently available on the following platforms:  Asgard, Direct, BT Wrap, BT Panorama, Macquarie, Netwealth, Hub24, Powerwrap, First Wrap, and North.

Steven Bennett

Charter Hall’s $4.5 billion Direct Property business, announced that its PFA Fund (PFA) has acquired a 100% interest in a high-quality and well-located office asset in the Melbourne CBD for $192 million (less outstanding tenant incentives).

The acquisition follows the 100% Freehold interest in 121 King William Street, Adelaide, for a total consideration of $82.25 million along with the Sydney CBD acquisition of the AMEX leased (9.5-year WALE) 12 Shelley Street office tower in late 2018.

The property, located at 737 Bourke Street, represents a large freehold land holding in close proximity to Southern Cross Station. Completed in 2008, the modern A-Grade office building comprises 18,500sqm of NLA, split between ground floor retail and eight levels of office accommodation, with large flexible floor plates of approximately 2,088 sqm benefitting from 4 elevations of natural light on a prominent corner location.

The Property is 98% occupied by well-recognised corporations and government tenants including Lion Dairy and Drinks, owned by the global Kirin Holdings, Symbion Health and the Victorian Building Authority, combined providing a 5.5 year weighted average lease expiry (WALE) and attractive average rent reviews of 3.7% per annum.

The Docklands Precinct is reaching capacity with limited future supply opportunities and high tenant demand resulting in historically low vacancy rates. The Docklands prime vacancy rate was 0.7% as at Q4 2018, which could lead to continued strong Melbourne effective market rental growth.

The PFA fund, valued at $966 million, owns fourteen office buildings in capital city markets across six states and the ACT. The fund provides monthly tax-advantaged distributions, an occupancy rate of 99%, a high proportion of government tenants – 54%, and an attractive WALE of 7.5 years. The fund is open for investment and continues to receive strong equity inflows throughout 2019.

Head of Charter Hall Direct, Steven Bennett, said the acquisitions are consistent with the funds strategy and represent its first assets in both the strong performing Melbourne CBD and improving Adelaide CBD office markets.

“These acquisitions reflect strategic investments in the core Melbourne and Adelaide office markets which are continuing to experience strong tenant demand and effective rental growth. The relatively new properties are strategically located, multi-tenanted and further improves the PFA portfolio quality.”

PFA provides an opportunity for investors and SMSF trustees and members to acquire an interest in high quality buildings in major Australian office markets leased to excellent tenants on long term leases.

“This formula translates into an attractive current distribution yield of 6.7%pa^[1], paid monthly with potential for capital growth.

“These numbers compare very favourably to current interest rates available on cash and term deposits.”

——–

[1] PFA’s yield based on forecast distribution of 7.25 cents per unit over the forecast period being 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019 (annualised), and $1.06 unit price (Ordinary Units) at 1 April 2019.

Implementation follows approval of the Scheme by the members of Folkestone at the Scheme meeting held on 17 October 2018 and by the Federal Court of Australia on 22 October 2018.

All Folkestone shares have been transferred to Charter Hall Limited. Shareholders will receive $1.39 per fully paid share comprising:

• the Bidder Consideration of $1.354 in cash for each Folkestone share held on the scheme record date being 31 October 2018; and
• the Special Dividend of $0.036 in cash for each Folkestone share held on the special dividend record date being 26 October 2018,

(together, the “Scheme Consideration”).

The Scheme Consideration, comprising $1.39 per fully paid share will be issued today to Folkestone shareholders who hold Folkestone shares on the relevant record dates above.

An application to remove Folkestone from the Official List will now be made.

Read the ASX Announcement.

Steven Bennett

Charter Hall Direct, part of the Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC), one of Australia’s leading property investment and funds management groups with $23.2 billion under management, has announced three significant property acquisitions in Sydney and Queensland for its funds totaling $126 million.

A 10-storey freehold building at 40 Tank Street in Brisbane CBD has been acquired for $93 million, with the ownership to be shared 50% by the unlisted Charter Hall Direct PFA Fund (PFA) and 50% by the ASX-listed Charter Hall Long Wale REIT (ASX:CLW).

The property comprises 6,218 sqm of NLA over five floors, 327 car spaces and ground floor retail. The commercial space is 100% occupied by the Queensland State Government with a 6.3 year WALE (weighted average lease expiry) which includes carpark lease over 300 bays to a separate tenant.

The transaction equates to an initial yield of 5.84% p.a. and a rate of $7,525/sqm of lettable area (excluding car bays). Following the acquisition, PFA and CLW will continue to provide any outstanding tenant incentives in accordance with the leases.

Steven Bennett, Head of Direct at Charter Hall said: “The Tank Street acquisition meets the key requirements of the Charter Hall Direct PFA Fund which is focused on acquiring and managing properties leased by government and high quality corporate covenants: it’s located in a major CBD and the major tenant is the QLD State Government on a long lease.

The Charter Hall Direct PFA Fund has a current income yield of 6.9%¹ p.a.

“This purchase will increase the diversification of the PFA property portfolio which will now exceed $400 million and will maintain the fund’s current leasing profile of 100% occupancy and a portfolio weighted average lease term of 8.1 years,” Bennett said.

The second property acquired is the $71.6 million purchase of a brand-new freestanding cross dock warehouse facility on a 6.8ha site in the prime south western Sydney industrial suburb of Prestons.

The industrial facility is located 45 kilometres west of Sydney in the heart of the rapidly expanding industrial and logistics zone in the vicinity of the M5 and M7 motorways, Westconnex, the Moorebank intermodal, the Badgerys Creek Aerotropolis and the proposed M9 and M12 motorways.

This property, located at 55 Yarrunga Street, Prestons, will be leased to Mainfreight Distribution and will be owned and managed 100% by the Charter Hall Direct Industrial Fund No.4, known as DIF4.

The property’s GLA when complete is forecast to be 30,796sqm, which includes 975sqm of office space. Construction on the Prestons site is due for completion in the last quarter of 2018 with the property 100% leased with a 10.5-year WALE, with annual CPI rent reviews.

The Charter Hall Direct Industrial Fund No.4 has a current income yield of 6.2%² p.a.

The third property acquired is the $7.9 million purchase of a food retail complex in Burleigh Waters, 80 kilometers south east of the Brisbane CBD. The property comprises two free standing buildings, including a Red Rooster drive through restaurant and a separate complex of five food restaurants, with an average lease term of 6.5 years. The space also provides car parking for 45 vehicles.

Demand for food retail is correlated to population growth and the purchase meets the Charter Hall Direct Consumer Staples Fund (DCSF) mandate to target consumer staples tenants that have resilience through investment cycles.

DCSF also recently announced that it acquired the retail component of Festival Towers, 108 Albert Street, Brisbane, QLD (Festival Towers) for $32 million, which reflects a core cap rate of 5.50%.

Festival Towers comprises the ground floor retail complex within the 39-storey mixed use tower, directly adjoining the proposed new Albert Street Cross River Rail Station. The street level retail provides a total lettable area of 1,033 sqm and is 100% leased to six international and national retailers with an existing WALE of approximately 4.5 years by income. The tenants suit the Fund’s “Consumer Staples” strategy and include Starbucks, Priceline Pharmacy, Grill’d, Nando’s Chicken and San Churro Chocolates.

The Charter Hall Direct Consumer Staples Fund has a current income yield of 6.7%³p.a. The three transactions take Charter Hall Direct’s suite of funds to more than $3.3 billion.

Mr Bennett said high quality direct property funds were increasingly attractive to SMSF investors given that many banks have announced restrictions on lending within self-managed super funds.

“Charter Hall Direct funds offer the prospect of total returns of around 9% p.a. with monthly or quarterly income distributions depending on the fund. The combination of attractive returns backed by quality tenants on long leases is, we find, resonating with SMSF investors in particular,” Mr Bennett said.

Notes

1. PFA’s yield based on actual distribution of 7.25 cents per unit (annualised) for the June 2018 quarter and $1.05 unit price at 1 July 2018.
2. DIF4’s yield based on actual distribution of 6.50 cents per unit (annualised) for the June 2018 quarter and $1.05 unit price at 1 July 2018.
3. DCSF’s yield based on actual distribution of 6.75 cents per unit (annualised) for the June 2018 quarter and $1.01 unit price at 1 July 2018.

David Harrison

Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC) (Charter Hall) and Folkestone Limited (ASX:FLK) (Folkestone) are pleased to announce that they have entered into a scheme implementation agreement for Charter Hall to acquire Folkestone (Scheme) for consideration of $205 million funded by cash from available investment capacity.

Under the terms of the Scheme, Folkestone shareholders will be entitled to receive $1.39 cash per share (Scheme Consideration), comprising a Charter Hall cash consideration of $1.354 per share^[1] and a special dividend of $0.036 per share^[2] (Special Dividend). In addition, Folkestone shareholders on the register as at 11 September 2018 will be entitled to a $0.03 per share ordinary dividend for FY18, payable on 27 September 2018 (FY18 Dividend). The FY18 Dividend will be paid to Folkestone shareholders regardless of whether the Scheme is approved.

Folkestone is a property fund manager and developer with listed, unlisted and private funds, with a strategy similar to Charter Hall of accessing, deploying and managing property for its stable of property funds to deliver above benchmark returns for its fund investors and securityholders.

The transaction will grow Charter Hall’s funds under management (FUM) by $1.6 billion, delivering fund management and development investment earnings, driving earnings accretion for the Group.

The acquisition of Folkestone expands Charter Hall’s investable universe into the social infrastructure and early learning sector. Early learning is a growth sector underpinned by population growth, increasing workforce participation and government funding. The early learning sector is still highly fragmented with low institutional participation, but with high quality covenants and long WALE triple net leases.

Charter Hall’s Managing Director and Group CEO, David Harrison said: “We see the Folkestone business model as consistent with our existing strategy. We are attracted to their leading position in the social infrastructure sector and the suite of listed and unlisted funds adds to our diversity of sources of equity, whilst their origination capability is expected to generate property investments for the expanded list of managed funds.

“Importantly, the Folkestone culture shares many similarities to Charter Hall’s own culture and we see the two organisations as a close fit. We look forward to Folkestone executives joining Charter Hall and the complementary skills they will bring as we work together to grow the funds management platform.”

Folkestone Managing Director, Greg Paramor AO, commented “We see this as an excellent fit of two likeminded businesses. Folkestone brings significant expertise and skills in the fields of social infrastructure and early learning. Folkestone’s other existing unlisted funds also complement Charter Hall’s existing platform, providing opportunities for Charter Hall to either grow these funds, or create new fund initiatives leveraging Folkestone’s extensive private client network and Charter Hall’s extensive distribution network.”

Chair of Charter Hall, David Clarke, commented: “Should the Scheme be successfully implemented, it is the intention of the Board to invite Greg Paramor to become a Non-Executive Independent Director of Charter Hall Group. Greg is an experienced Director who is held in high esteem given his significant experience in the property sector and corporate life more broadly. We believe Greg’s experience and skill set and his broad-ranging property experience will be a valuable addition to the Charter Hall Group Board.”

The Scheme Implementation Agreement and Scheme are subject to the usual conditions precedent including:

• All necessary regulatory and court approvals;
• Independent Expert’s opinion;
• Folkestone shareholder approval by the requisite majorities (being a majority in number of shareholders who vote and at least 75% of the total number of shares voted); and
• Other customary conditions

Folkestone’s Board of Directors unanimously recommends that Folkestone shareholders vote in favour of the Scheme, in the absence of any superior proposal and subject to the Independent Expert concluding that the Scheme is in the best interests of Folkestone shareholders.

The proposed Scheme Consideration of $1.39, represents a 25% premium to the previous close of $1.11.

Based on the FY18 FLK reported EBITDA of $20.05 million, the Charter Hall cash consideration of $205 million represents an approximate 10.2x EBITDA multiple.

Consistent with their recommendation, each member of the Folkestone Board intends to vote the Folkestone shares in his control in favour of the Scheme in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to the Independent Expert concluding that the Scheme is in the best interests of Folkestone shareholders.

The obligations of Charter Hall and Folkestone regarding the implementation of the Scheme, the Scheme conditions and deal protections are set out in the Scheme Implementation Agreement.

Folkestone shareholders do not need to take any action at the present time. A Scheme Booklet containing information relating to the Scheme, an independent expert’s report on whether the Scheme is in the best interests of Folkestone shareholders, the reasons for the Board’s recommendation in favour of the Scheme, and details of the Scheme meeting is expected to be sent to Folkestone shareholders shortly.

The timetable is as follows:

• Process Date First court hearing to approve scheme booklet dispatch to Folkestone shareholders: Mid September 2018
• Dispatch scheme booklet to Folkestone shareholders: Mid September 2018
• Scheme meeting for Folkestone shareholders: Mid October 2018
• Second court hearing to approve scheme meeting for Folkestone shareholders: Mid/late October 2018
• Transaction completion (if approved): Early November 2018

Further details about the Scheme can also be found in the Charter Hall FY18 Full Year Results Presentation and the Folkestone FY18 Full Year Results Presentation, both of which have been released on the ASX.

1 As at the date of this announcement, Folkestone has 148,099,564 shares on issue and 3,268,128 unvested performance rights. In accordance with the terms of the Folkestone Executive Incentive Plan these performance rights will vest and as a result will receive the Scheme Consideration. 2 Folkestone is applying to the ATO for a class ruling in relation to the tax implications of the Scheme, including the availability of franking credits for the Special Dividend

Steven Bennett

Government tenants and long lease terms feature in fund offering 7% p.a.^[1] income.

The Charter Hall Direct PFA Fund (PFA), featuring high quality office buildings across Australia, is now more widely available to investors as a result of being added to both the BT Wrap platform and innovative platform, BT Panorama.

The fund is available on both platforms as of April 2018.

Key features of the fund include monthly tax-advantaged distributions, an occupancy rate of 100%, a high proportion of government tenants – 72%, and an attractive weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 8.4 years.

The fund, valued at $344 million, owns seven office buildings in capital cities across six states.

Head of Charter Hall Direct, Steven Bennett, said PFA provides an opportunity for investors and SMSF trustees and members to acquire an interest in high quality buildings in major markets leased to excellent tenants on long leases.

“This formula translates into an attractive current distribution yield of 7%pa1, paid monthly with potential for capital growth.

“These numbers compare very favourably to current interest rates available on cash at 1.5%^{[2][1] PFA’s yield based on forecast distribution of 7.25 cents per unit over the forecast period being 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018 (annualised), and $1.03 unit price at 1 April 2018.
[2] Rate as at 31 December 2017. Each investment has different liquidity and risk profiles. ]]>}

Steven Bennett

Government tenants and long lease terms feature in fund offering 7% p.a.^[1] income.

The Charter Hall Direct PFA Fund (PFA), featuring high quality office buildings across Australia, is now more widely available to investors as a result of being added to both the BT Wrap platform and innovative platform, BT Panorama.

The fund is available on both platforms as of April 2018.

Key features of the fund include monthly tax-advantaged distributions, an occupancy rate of 100%, a high proportion of government tenants – 72%, and an attractive weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 8.4 years.

The fund, valued at $344 million, owns seven office buildings in capital cities across six states.

Head of Charter Hall Direct, Steven Bennett, said PFA provides an opportunity for investors and SMSF trustees and members to acquire an interest in high quality buildings in major markets leased to excellent tenants on long leases.

“This formula translates into an attractive current distribution yield of 7%pa1, paid monthly with potential for capital growth.

“These numbers compare very favourably to current interest rates available on cash at 1.5%^{[2][1] PFA’s yield based on forecast distribution of 7.25 cents per unit over the forecast period being 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018 (annualised), and $1.03 unit price at 1 April 2018.
[2] Rate as at 31 December 2017. Each investment has different liquidity and risk profiles.}

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Steven Bennett

Charter Hall Direct, part of leading property investment and funds management group Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC), has announced a partnership with independent investment information platform, Informed Investor.

This platform aims to enhance investors’ and financial adviser’s knowledge of Australian commercial property markets and investment products based on this asset class.

Informed Investor partners with financial product and financial service providers to publish product information on a non-aligned platform.

Steven Bennett, Head of Charter Hall Direct said: “The Informed Investor platform was developed to provide a greater depth of information and education to both investors and the financial adviser community. This is strongly aligned with our aspirations to offer knowledge and education of the institutional commercial property markets, investment pathways and retirement savings.

“An accessible and independent source of information such as this is welcomed, and Charter Hall Direct is pleased to produce educational and engaging content to reduce financial complexity,” said Bennett.

Charter Hall is one of Australia largest investment property managers with almost $22 billion under management in Australian real estate investment trusts (AREITs), Direct Property funds (also known as unlisted property funds), unlisted wholesale funds and private syndicates.

“Charter Hall Direct joins a growing list of major investment industry names who have joined our Informed Investor platform,” said Tim McGowen, CEO of Informed Investor.

“Charter Hall is a respected leader in its field, a ASX Top 100 entity, and enjoys an international reputation for both performance and the group’s values. They share our commitment to better informed investor community and we are delighted they are joining our platform,” McGowen said.

“We are working together to create digital content which will be used as an aide to better understand the Product Disclosure Statements (PDS) individual investment products must produce. We also use tools like videos and quizzes to measure this understanding, in addition to offering CPD points to financial advisers” he noted.