Wealthy Besen family sells shopping centre assets

Melbourne’s wealthy Besen family has offloaded a 16.67% stake in Melbourne’s Highpoint Shopping Centre and the adjacent Maribyrnong Homemaker City Centre for a total of $206.3 million to listed property giant GPT.

The Besen family, which has a long history in the fashion and retail sectors and is valued at $1.73 billion, had an option to sell a third of its 50% stake in Highpoint to GPT, which previously owned a 50% stake in the centre through a property trust.

The family, which is led by patriarch Marc Besen and his wife Eva, decided to exercise that option in July but have just completed the deal.

Highpoint is one of Australia’s biggest shopping centres and had annual turnover of $779 million in 2008-09, up 3.8% on the previous year.

The acquisition by GPT is part of its strategy to concentrate on its Australian assets. The company has sold more than $700 million of international assets since the start of the year.

“Highpoint is one of Australia’s leading shopping centres and a great fit for our strategy,” GPT chief executive Michael Cameron said in a statement. “The asset has one of the largest trade areas for a regional centre in Australia and attractive long-term expansion opportunities with significant existing land holdings.”