Moelis fund pays $21m for Healesville centre

The first shopping centre asset has been acquired in Healesville to seed the coming $300 million-plus Moelis Australia Property Visa Fund.

The fund will target overseas investors who qualify for the Significant Investor visa, which fast-tracks Australian residency for buyers of property worth more than $5 million.

The first deal was for the Healesville Walk Shopping Centre, for which the manager of the fund, Moelis Australia Asset Management, paid $21.2 million from the joint owners, Australand and Bank of Scotland.

The managing director of Moelis Australia Asset Management, Andrew Martin, said the visa fund would manage real estate investments for holders of the Australian Significant Investor Visa.

The first investor into the visa fund was sponsored by the NSW government.

"The fund's investors have a strong appetite for Australian commercial property investments with strong stable cashflows from major tenants," Mr Martin said.

"Healesville Walk represents a very good fit for this fund given the stability of the asset, underwritten by the consistent strong performance of the anchor tenant, a Coles supermarket."

The Moelis Australia Asset Management's Visa Fund manager Enda Stankard said the intention for the fund was to invest directly in Australian commercial real estate assets and also from joint venture investments.

"The $21.2 million sale price reflects an initial yield of 7.9 per cent, with the centre fully leased at the date of sale," Mr Stankard said.

Healesville Walk is about 52 kilometres from Melbourne in the Yarra Valley. It is a 4971-square-metre neighbourhood shopping centre, anchored by Coles, and includes 12 specialty shops and is the major shopping centre in the Yarra Valley.

RetPro and Hall & Wilcox acted on behalf of the purchaser. CBRE and Minters acted on behalf of the vendor.