Charter Hall Retail REIT will sell the Southgate Square in South Australia for $91 million and the Rosebud Plaza in Victoria for $134.5 million.

The property development and funds management company anticipates closing the sale of Southgate Square in February and of Rosebud in June.

The company secured sale agreements following unsolicited market offers and both sales are in line with the June 2023 valuations.

“These sales demonstrate CQR’s ongoing active asset management and focus on improving portfolio quality while maintaining balance sheet strength,” said Ben Ellis, CEO at Charter Hall Retail.

“The sale proceeds of $225.5 million less transaction costs, will strengthen the balance sheet optionality that CQR has traditionally had through the ownership of liquid convenience retail assets.”

The company expects the sale to reduce its pro-forma balance sheet from 29 per cent to 25 per cent after settlement and forecasts operating earnings of 27.4 cents per unit for FY24.

Charter Hall Retail estimates the distribution payout ratio to be between 90 per cent and 95 per cent of the operating earnings.