Mintus acquires Bathurst Chase for $17.5 million

Property investment and development firm Mintus has secured Bathurst Chase for $17.5 million from Quanta Investment Funds, reflecting a passing yield of 7.36%.

CBRE’s James Douglas, Joe Tynan and Michael Hedger together with Stonebridge’s Alex James-Elliott, Justin Dowers and Philip Gartland negotiated the sale following an on-market Expressions of Interest (EOI) process, which generated significant investor engagement.

“The transaction demonstrates the resilient nature and continued demand for retail assets with a focus on non-discretionary spending. At Bathurst Chase there is also an immediate opportunity for the incoming owner to actively lease and manage the centre to enhance the asset’s income profile,” Mr Douglas said.

The NSW central west centre is located on a high-profile 11,777sqm site in the Bathurst CBD and features a strongly performing Coles supermarket – the only one in the region.

Mr Douglas said the opportunity had attracted significant investor enquiry, with over 150 enquiries fielded from a variety of investor types, resulting in 16 bids when the EOI closed.

Stonebridge’s Mr James-Elliott added, “In the current changing market, the ability to secure a neighbourhood shopping centre with tangible competitive advantages over its competition, and genuine value add opportunities proved to be highly attractive. Bathurst Chase also provides a strong value proposition factoring in high construction costs and the relative capital value of existing assets on a $/sqm basis.”

In addition to Coles, Bathurst Chase is anchored by a Liquorland and the majority of the tenants are food and non-discretionary retailers. The centre offers excellent exposure to the city’s main retail precinct along William Street and direct vehicular access from the Great Western Highway.

Quanta Investment Funds’ CEO Stacey Jones said, “The sale of this asset at $17.5 million is a great outcome for our investors, having achieved a significant premium over our acquisition price of $15.5 million. Our disposal of the asset is line with our trust strategy to recycle capital for value creation initiatives elsewhere in the portfolio and to reduce portfolio debt exposure.”

The asset’s established customer base and extensive trade area of 43,850 residents is forecast to grow by 1.3% p.a. (almost double the NSW non-metro average) to reach 56,170 by 2041.

The trade area comprises an affluent population, with average per capita and household incomes 4% and 6% respectively above the non-metro NSW benchmarks. This drives significant retail spending of $671.8 million, with forecast growth of 3.7% p.a. to reach $1.34 billion by 2041, which will be a key driver of the turnover performance for the Coles supermarket and Liquorland.

The wider Bathurst region generated $2.6 billion in regional product in FY22 across a vast industry profile, primarily focused on health care / medical, education, agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism.

Bathurst also features the world-renowned Mt Panorama Racing Circuit, which hosts several international events annually culminating in the iconic Bathurst 1000 – a four-day motorsport festival, had almost 200,000 people in attendance in 2022 and is estimated to add $17 million to the local economy each year.