Bankstown for sale??

The issue of aviation in this appears to have been missed, according to the article in yesterdays Financial Review [26th May 2015].

That this absolute and demonstrable hit at the nations primary infrastructure.

That a large area of the land has had issues raised as to:

• Flooding;
• Contaminated land;
• Aviation use;
• Prior issues

There have been a series of issues raised over time, which are in part summarised here.

Of course the effect of the people behind the current dilemma must be remembered.

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The current AFR article is below:

AFR News May 26 2015 at 12:00 AM

Updated May 26 2015 at 12:00 AM

Bankstown and Camden airports up on offer by Mercedes Ruehl

Camden airport has more than 8 hectares of surplus land. Camden airport has more than 8 hectares of surplus land. Bob Pearce

A consortium including Mirvac Group, AustralianSuper and Colonial First State has quietly put the Camden and Bankstown airports up for sale with price expectations exceeding $195 million.

A sale of both airports was called off in late 2012 after shareholders decided to hold out for a better sale environment.

Now the two sites, which generate an annual rental income of more than $20 million, are again being offered for sale as a package deal as well as a development opportunity. Spanning 509 hectares in total, there is the potential for more than 40 hectares of surplus development land.

The owner, known as BAC Holdco, has appointed Colliers International’s Gavin Bishop and Malcom Tyson and Grant Samuel’s Damien Elias and Salih Harman to advise on the off-market sale although the parties declined to comment.

Both airports were privatised in 2003 and are held under long term leases with the Australian government, with 82 years still remaining. In total across both Camden and Bankstown there are more than 175 tenants, half of those are related to the aviation industry. Over the last few years the airports have had an average of vacancy of only 1 per cent and the weighted average lease expiry exceeds six years.

Interested parties are being asked to submit non-binding indicative offers after which a shortlist of potential buyers will most likely be drawn up to undertake detailed due diligence before making a final offer.

Bankstown, the fifth busiest airport in Australia, makes up the bulk of the revenue. Several expansion projects are in the works for some existing tenants. In addition to that there is 12.7 hectares of surplus land on the site currently and potential for a further 19 hectares. Camden has a little over 8 hectares of surplus development land.

The two airports were purchased as part of a package along with Hoxton Park airport in November 2003 for $211 million.

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A selection of comments and articles are below:

From 2009, the following notations were made:

Bankstown Airport Sale

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There’s an Ad on p16 of today’s Sydney Morning Herald (Weekend Business Section) for Bankstown Airport …Colliers International is offering for sale a 33.3% equity stake in the lease hold land surrounding the airport that is approximately 76.36 hectares. The zoning on the land is flexible and permits numerous development opportunities such as industrial, retail, bulky goods, commercial and aviation [emphasis added]. Please call us for an Information Memorandum.
•76.36 hectares
•Sale of 33.3% equity stake in the land
•Zoning permits industrial, retail, bulky goods,Anyone know what’s going on here?I hadn’t seen anything about this previously. Is this one of the syndicate partners pulling back?Have a close look at the advertisement, please.The land depicted, with one third being offered, IS NOT the land operated by Bankstown Airport Ltd, BAL, as Bankstown Airport, YSBK.The land depicted is “owned” by BAC/DEVCO, a different company to BAL, shareholders are similar BUT NOT the same. All three (major) shareholders ofBAC/Devco are looking rather sickright now, as are so many property developers, so it could be any or all of them looking to bring in aone third “shareholder” to pay down an/the existing debt.Of great interest, and very obscure in terms of the original head lease from the Commonwealth toBAL, isquite how the “sale” — (a sublease toBAC/Devco, I assume – but not necessarily so) squares with the requirements of the various pieces of legislation that are relevant.Thus, all the “aviation comes first” provisions probably do not apply to “Devco”, because it is not BAL. Just about any sizable block on the whole original site is “Devco land”, including probably the aircraft parking areas along Marion St, and the old NCOs Mess/barracks/RAC-NSW site, not just the land on the south side of the runways.

What we do know is that it was all a “done deal”, including closing 18/36, before the sale of the 50 + 50 lease, by the Commonwealth to BAL, was completed.

How do we know?, because a senior executive of BAL said so, in front of many witnesses. I doubt he intended to let the cat out of the bag, but he did!!

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• Jan 31 2013 at 12:25 PM and Updated Feb 1 2013 at 1:10 PM

Bob Ell leads charge for industrial land in south-west Sydney

by Ben HurleyBRW Rich Lister Bob Ell is set to buy a prime industrial property in Sydney’s south-west as the market for A-grade industrial assets heats up.The 34-hectare site on the corner of Milperra Road and Henry Lawson Drive is near Bankstown airport and two kilometres from the M5 Motorway.Ell’s company Leda Holdings now has a pipeline of industrial developments and investments of about $650 million. A Leda spokesman says demand is steady for prime industrial property along the M5 and M7 Motorways.“Land in Sydney’s south-west and off that M5 corridor is not plentiful, there’s not a lot of land out there,” the spokesman says. “Even in the Eastern Creek precinct the land is drying up. There’s not a shortage by a long shot but there’s certainly not going to be an oversupply in the future.”

 The purchase, for an estimated $25 million, hinges on a lengthy development approval process with the federal government, owing to the site’s proximity to Bankstown airport. Ell hopes to build an industrial park that will house a mix of large industrial users, retail showrooms and bulky goods centres.

The land was formerly held by a development company owned by Mirvac, Leighton Holdings and West Australian superannuation fund Westscheme. Receivers KordaMentha were appointed to the venture in 2010.

The deal follows Ell’s purchase last month of 11.5 hectares of industrial land at Caringbah in Sydney’s south for $34 million.

The market for quality industrial properties has strengthened in the past year, with rising interest from local real estate investment trusts such as Dexus, Goodman Group and Charter Hall, along with offshore buyers like the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, British financial group Aviva and South Korean pension fund NPS.

 Gavin Bishop, national director of industrial for Colliers International, is involved with the Bankstown deal. He believes the market for prime industrial property will improve this year.

“I think you’re going to see more [activity], and what you’re also giong to find is because of the lack of prime grade investment products on the market, the secondary industrial assets are going to attract more interest.

“Land values have come down to a level where you are seeing developers and owner occupiers re-entering the market.”

But funding restraints are still preventing smaller players from buying, he says.

 BRW

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