No.2-4 Bender Dr, Derwent Park. Picture: Supplied
A cold storage and logistics investment in Hobart’s Derwent Park industrial precinct is set to go under the hammer, offering investors the chance to secure a long-term net lease to a Woolworths Group subsidiary.
CBRE is marketing the PFD Foods facility at No.2-4 Bender Dr, Derwent Park, via its Investment Portfolio Auction 188.
The property comprises a 13,850sq m landholding improved by a 4520sq m cold storage facility, leased to PFD Foods on a 15-year net lease through to 2036, with options extending to 2071.
The lease delivers net income of $781,130 per annum plus GST, with compounding annual fixed rent increases of 2.8 per cent.
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No.2-4 Bender Dr, Derwent Park.
CBRE senior director Matthew Wright said the backing of ASX-listed Woolworths Group was central to how investors would assess the asset.
“PFD Foods is one of Australia’s largest food service distributors and a wholly owned subsidiary of ASX-listed Woolworths Group (ASX: WOW), Australia’s No.1 retailer,” Mr Wright said.
“Woolworths recorded $71.5bn in sales in FY26 and employs more than 209,000 people.
“For investors, that parent company standing behind the tenant is about as strong a covenant as you’ll find in the market.
“It gives real confidence in income security over the life of the lease.”
No.2-4 Bender Dr, Derwent Park.
CBRE senior director Yosh Mendis said the essential nature of food distribution added further appeal for investors seeking defensive income streams.
“Food distribution was treated as essential through Covid and kept operating when much of the economy was shut down,” Mr Mendis said.
“PFD supplies hospitals, aged care, hospitality and other food service businesses, so demand doesn’t depend on discretionary spending.
“Cold storage is also specialised, expensive infrastructure that’s hard to replicate, which makes tenants sticky.
“Investors increasingly value that kind of non-discretionary, defensive income.”
No.2-4 Bender Dr, Derwent Park.
CBRE associate director George Wilkinson said the combination of covenant strength and lease term should attract strong competition on auction day.
“We expect it to be hotly contested,” Mr Wilkinson said.
“The strength of the Woolworths-backed covenant and a long lease will appeal to a broad range of buyers, from private investors and syndicates to self-managed super funds looking for secure, long-term passive income.”
While PFD-leased assets in Tasmania’s north have previously come to market, Mr Wilkinson confirmed this listing represented a first for the state’s south.
“Yes, this is the first PFD asset in southern Tasmania to come to market,” he said.
“Investors who’ve watched the northern PFD sales now have a chance to buy into the same covenant in the state’s capital, which is a rare opportunity.”
No.2-4 Bender Dr, Derwent Park.
The property sits within the established Derwent Park industrial precinct, within minutes of the Brooker Hwy and Hobart’s CBD.
With a low 33 per cent site coverage, the landholding also offers future development potential, while a recent tenant-funded expansion at the facility underscores PFD’s long-term commitment to the site.
The PFD Foods facility will be offered for sale via CBRE’s Investment Portfolio Auction 188 on October 27 at the Yallamundi Rooms, Sydney Opera House.