Property billionaire John Gandel to sell $450 million stake in shopping centre

Reclusive Melbourne property billionaire John Gandel has put his 50% stake in Melbourne shopping centre Northland up for sale as he seeks to increase his investments in the listed property sector.

Northland is valued at $910 million in the accounts of CFS Retail Trust, which owns the other 50% stake.

Gandel, who is valued at more than $3 billion, is said to be keen to use the funds freed up from the sale to invest further into sharemarket listed real estate companies.

The agent selling the property, Simon Rooney of Jones Lang LaSalle, has said the Gandel Group wants to diversify its holdings and invest in Australia’s real estate investment trusts, which were hit hard during the GFC and forced to reduce debt, but remain at attractive prices.

Gandel took over his family’s clothing business in the 1960s but in 1983 he went into shopping centre and real estate development. He is perhaps best known as the owner of giant Chadstone Shopping Centre in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, which he bought in the 1980s for just $37 million.

Gandel still retains a 50% stake in the centre, which is now valued at over $3 billion. As with the Northland centre, the other half of the asset is owned by CFS Retail Trust.

On top of his prime shopping centre assets, Gandel already owns significant stakes in listed property companies, including a stake in CFS Retail Trust which is worth about $800 million.

More recently, Gandel has invested heavily in Sydney-based property group Charter Hall, which runs a number of property trusts and develops commercial property projects.

After buying a 15% stake in May 2009 after investing about $82 million, Gandel spent another $69 million last year to increase his stake in a major capital raising undertaken by Charter Hall.

Like most things Gandel has done during his career, the Charter Hall investment has been a success. The company’s share price has increased from 38c when Gandel invested in May 2009 to around $2.32 today.

Gandel’s stake in Charter Hall is now worth more than $460 million.