DEXUS Property Group (ASX: DXS) announced (link opens in PDF) today that it has sold five of its six remaining European industrial properties. The deals are collectively valued at AUD $21.3 million, and are said to be "broadly in line" with DEXUS' end-of-year book value for the assets.
All the properties are located in France, with four of the five in Paris. This move comes as part of the company's larger strategy to shift its focus to opportunities closer to home. "The sale of the majority of the European portfolio delivers on our strategic objective of divesting out of our non-core offshore markets and concentrating on our preferred Australian CBD office markets," said CEO Darren Steinberg in a statement.
The completion of these sales marks the equivalent of a 90% European exit, but DEXUS still has a 10,100-square-metre Berlin property on its books. The company successfully exited its last U.S. operations in April, and plans to use the proceeds from this most recent sale to repay debt.
DEXUS might be on to something with its renewed focus on Aussie investments. The Australian Financial Review says "good quality Australian shares that have a long history of paying dividends are a real alternative to a term deposit." Get "3 Stocks for the Great Dividend Boom" in our special FREE report. Click here now to find out the names, stock symbols, and full research for our three favourite income ideas, all completely free!
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