The sale of seven Tasmanian shopping centres to the SCA Property Group is being hailed as one of the biggest real estate deals in the state’s history.

The group has picked up one Launceston and six Hobart-based centres for $145.7 million – its first acquisitions in Tasmania.

Set up as a trust by Woolworths, SCA Property Group (SCP) owns around 70 shopping centres worth $1.4 billion in Australia and New Zealand.

“The acquisition will enhance SCP’s portfolio quality and income growth profile, and improve the diversification of the portfolio both geographically and by tenant composition,” a statement on the company’s website said on Wednesday.

The properties all come with valuable long-term tenants such as Woolworths and Coles.

SCA Property Group chairman Phil Clark told Tasmanian newspaper The Mercury that the investment was the biggest retail portfolio of its type in the state.

“There are a lot of advantages with Tasmania, it is a very stable, secure market,” he said.

The acquisition will be funded with the sale of assets worth $75.7 million, a $10 million placement to the seller and debt funding of $38.9 million.

The properties are being sold by Tasmanian businessman Robert Rockefeller’s Nekon Pty Ltd.

AAP