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Centennial seeds its first open ended fund after buying food processing facility in Adelaide’s north for $18.5m
Centennial spends $18.5m on prime industrial asset in Adelaide’s Salisbury for its flagship open ended Metro Industrial & Logistics Fund (CENMIF)
Long-standing tenant, Patties Food Group subsidiary, Australian Wholefoods occupies 6 adjoining processing facilities (7,660 sqm GLA)
Asset spans 14,796 sqm over 7 titles at Turin Place and Bremen Drive, incl. ~1,500 sqm of surplus land for hardstand
CENMIF is seeded by the Salisbury asset and a newly acquired industrial site in Prestons, Sydney ($29.75m)|the fund is forecast to grow by ~ $150m per annum
Off-market sale brokered by Max Frohlich and Ryan Mills of Knight Frank on behalf of a private local investor
ADELAIDE, SA: Centennial has seeded its first open ended industrial & logistics property fund with a major food production facility in Adelaide’s northern suburb of Salisbury after acquiring it for $18.5m.
The flagship Centennial Metro Industrial & Logistics Fund (CENMIF)was launched by the national investment manager and developer as it embarks on an accelerated growth strategy ahead of announcing a new capital partner.
Joining the Salisbury site is the fund’s second seed asset in western Sydney’s industrial heartland of Prestons comprising a 17,950 sqm fully leased logistics facility snapped up by Centennial for $29.75m.
The Salisbury asset spanning 14,795 sqm of land, comprises six food processing facilities on seven titles including 1,500sq m of surplus land for hardstand or additional open storage opportunities. The asset’s low site coverage of 53 per cent, strong underlying land value and quality of tenant were key drivers to Centennial’s acquiring the site.
Fully leased to Patties Food Group subsidiary, Australian Wholefoods (AWF), which supplies pre-prepared meals to major supermarket chains nationwide, the off-market sale was brokered by Knight Frank’s Max Frohlich and Ryan Mills on behalf of a private local investor.
AWF has operated and progressively upgraded the food processing facilities over 40 years. The asset has a gross lettable area of 7,660 sqm and was purchased on a yield of 6.6 per cent.
Centennial’s Fund Manager, Private Wealth, Nick Lidonnici, said the asset had undergone significant capital upgrades over the years, making Australian Wholefoods a dominant food processing manufacturer in Salisbury and a prime asset to seed the open ended fund.
The fund is targeting an internal rate of return (IRR) above 13% per cent, with an annual distribution yield target of circa +5% per cent.
Speaking about the acquisition, Mr Lidonnici said: “We were drawn to the asset given it met our new fund’s investment strategy of building a multi-asset real estate portfolio focusing on acquiring industrial and logistics assets in land constrained, metropolitan locations offering strong risk adjusted returns.
“Being a food production facility with a a highly embedded tenant who has made a substantial investment into specialised Plant & Equipment within the facility which is located in an established, land constrained industrial suburb, the Salisbury asset not only meets our investment criteria but underscores our mandate of offering investors exposure to the national metro industrial and logistics sub-sector through a multi-asset portfolio.”
Centennial’s primary investment focus will remain on targeting undercapitalised assets in land constrained locations through off-market deals and identifying distressed sellers or assets that are typically land rich and needing specialised management.
Centennial has also identified several potential assets to add to the fund with sites in Victoria and Queensland on its radar. The fund’s targeted growth rate is around $150m per annum.
The new fund signals a major turning point and further diversification for Centennial, now in its fifteenth year of operations, which had previously offered only closed ended and syndicated funds under its private wealth platform.
The investment criteria for the new fund will follow a similar strategy to Centennial’s private investment models operating primarily in established inner-ring, supply-constrained areas in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane with assets in Adelaide and Perth capped at 25 per cent of the fund and up to 20 per cent in major regional centres.
Centennial was highly active in 2025 having completed 32 property transactions totalling close to $830m, including the acquisition of an 11-level commercial office tower at 63 Pirie Street in Adelaide’s CBD acquired for $50.5m.
GALLERY
