Telstra sells stake in newly established property trust, raises $700M

Telstra has established a property trust that will see the publicly-listed telecommunications provider own 37 of its existing exchange properties.

As it established the trust, Telstra has also sold 49 per cent of it to a Charter Hall-led consortium while maintaining 51 per cent controlling interest and will retain operational control.

As previously reported by The Australian, the Charter Hall-led consortium was thought to include pension funds and its satellite Long WALE REIT trust.

The 49 per cent stake will bring Telstra $700 million and will result in a property valuation of $1.43 billion.

Telstra has more than 5,300 exchanges across Australia.

Telstra CEO Andrew Penn said that when it announced its T22 strategy it included the goal of monetising up to $2 billion of assets to strengthen its balance sheet.

“Since then we have been working to unlock the true value of some of our assets and today's agreement, when completed, will take us to around the $1 billion mark,” Penn said.

Telstra will sign long-term triple-net lease arrangements with the property trust, providing it with a stable flow of payments. The leases will have a weighted average lease expiry of 21 years, with multiple options for lease extension to accommodate the business' ongoing requirements.

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of August.

In its financial results announced on 15 August, Telstra advised of an agreement to sell three of its international data centres in Europe and Asia to private equity firm, I-Squared Capital for about $160 million. The private equity firm also own Hutchison Global Communications.

The sale of the data centres, which is still subject to a number of conditions, combined with recent changes to Telstra Ventures, the sale of the Edison Exchange building in Brisbane, and other smaller transactions, brings the total value of assets monetised as part of T22 to around $1 billion.