Standard & Poor’s (S&P’s) has reassigned a three-star rating to the AXA Wholesale Australian Property Fund, now in it 23rd year of operation.
The open ended, unlisted-property fund, which also invests in listed-property securities and cash, increased its allocation to direct property by $438 million to $942 million since S&P’s previous review in September last year.
It did this by acquiring seven properties, which it funded with a sell-down of the listed-property allocation, thereby increasing tenant numbers by 45 per cent, and extending the portfolio’s average lease expiry from 3.5 years to 4.6 years.
“Over the fund’s 23-year history, the manager has assembled a high quality direct property portfolio that is well diversified by geography, tenant and asset class,” said S&P fund analyst Robert Buckmaster.
The fund has 194 retail, commercial and industrial tenants, negligible vacancies and no gearing, although some key-person risk remains in the direct-property mandate, he said.
