Defaulting Country Garden sells huge Melbourne estate to Frasers
Broke Chinese housing giant Country Garden has moved closer to an exit from Australia after selling its huge Melbourne estate Windermere to Singapore’s Frasers Property.
Country Garden, which operates locally as Risland Australia, put the undeveloped portion of the 366ha estate in Wyndham Vale in the city’s west up for sale in July. It plans to also divest its $2 billion Wilton Greens estate in Wollondilly Shire south-west of Sydney.
While pricing remains confidential, sources close to the Windermere deal indicated it sold for close to the $250 million speculated when it came onto the market three months ago.
The huge Windermere estate has been partially completed by Country Garden.
Risland’s divestment of Windermere followed a retreat of many large, debt-laden Chinese developers from Australia including the likes of Poly Corp, Greenland and Dalian Wanda.
Country Garden, China’s biggest private developer, paid a record $400 million for the Wyndham Vale site in 2017.
A worsening property crisis in China, which began in 2021 when another developer, Evergrande Group, defaulted on loan repayments, has sparked the exodus of these giant operators from Australian shores.
Country Garden’s financial position has worsened since putting Windermere up for sale.
This week it missed a bond coupon payment deadline, sparking fears of a wider default. The company has $US11 billion ($17.5 billion) of offshore bonds.
Country Garden’s retreat has provided an opportunity for another real estate multinational, Singapore’s Frasers Property, to snap up two parcels of Windermere land spanning 170ha that could yield 2200 more residential lots with an end value of about $800 million.
Frasers, ASX-listed Stockland and Melbourne-based developer Central Equity were the front-runners to buy Windermere, as The Australian Financial Review reported last month.
The acquisition bolts onto an already substantial housing development business operated by local subsidiary Frasers Property Australia that includes greenfield estates, apartments and build-to-rent.
Frasers already has a strong presence in Melbourne’s west after acquiring a 115ha site in Wyndham Vale in 2016 that has become its Mambourin estate.
Once fully delivered, Windermere is expected to support 4500 to 5000 homes, four schools and a retail village.
The sale of Windermere was brokered by Oliver Hay, Daniel Wolman, Marcus Neill and Leon Ma from Cushman & Wakefield.
Amid a revival in appetite for greenfield land as housing demand rises, the agents said they received more than 170 inquiries for Windermere from institutional investors, local private developers and those based offshore.
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