AHG sells sites to Charter Hall for $50m

Perth-based vehicle retailer Automotive Holdings Group has sold three of its east coast properties to trusts managed by Charter Hall, for $50.5 million.

Charter Hall has seeded a new retail syndicate through the acquisition of an AHG dealership in New South Wales and Queensland for $36.8 million, alongside a property in Castle Hill it bought from a syndicate managed by investment group API for $65.5 million.

AHG sold the Castle Hill property to API in 2012, when API acquired five AHG sites.

Charter Hall has also purchased an industrial site from AHG at Prestons in Sydney for $13.7 million, which will be developed into AHG's east coast head office and distribution facility, at a forecast cost of about $43 million.

The Prestons property will go into a Charter Hall managed wholesale industrial fund, while the other properties will go into the newly established Charter Hall Direct Automotive Trust.

“The transaction is part of our normal capital management strategy to maintain capacity in our balance sheet to fund growth opportunities,” AHG managing director Bronte Howson said.

“It creates a partnership between AHG and Charter Hall, an institutional property fund manager which provides the scale and access to equity, and which allows us to look at future opportunities across our automotive dealership and logistics businesses.”

AHG shares were 1.4 per cent higher to $4.37 at 10:20am.