Mid-week ASX property wrap up: 7 April

• Dexus sells 10 Eagle Street for $285M to Marquette
• McGrath helps bolster Oxygen, $2.5M capital injection made
• Vitalharvest determined Roc superior, MAFM since matched Roc offer

It’s been a short week for the ASX, with the Easter Monday public holiday leaving only four active days.

It’s a sense of deja vu too, with the familiar name Vitalharvest announcing movements.

The broader market

The ASX gained 13.90 points overnight, or 0.20%, the ASX stating it “sets a new 20-day high”.

Looking at the top five performing stocks, real estate was absent. So far today, the top performers for real estate are (subject to change at the close of trading):

Top-performing ASX listed real estate companies

Source: ASX

The movement

Dexus (ASX: DXS) tops ASX listed real estate company movements, the rise likely attributed to the recent sale of 10 Eagle Street in Brisbane, allowing the company to repay debts as well as focus on the company’s Waterfront Brisbane project. The sale of the property was $285 million to Brisbane company Marquette. Dexus was joint owners of the property with CPP Investments.

Securities of Raptis Group Limited (ASX: RPG) were also reinstated to Official Quotation today, the ASX saying this follows the “lodgement of its Half Year Financial Report”.

McGrath Limited (ASX: MEA) continues in the trend of real estate agencies bolstering business by complementing sales with home loans, a $2.5 million capital injection into Oxygen was made, with McGrath reducing its interest in the home loans company to 45%, and a “cash payment to MEA in three years of $1.8 million.” The remaining 55% interest in Oxygen is owned by “financial services and technology investor consortium Oxygen Investment Corporation Pty Limited”. The Oxygen mortgage business was created by MEA in 2003. The transaction also sees an MEA referral agreement struck with Oxygen, and MEA retaining one of three board seats in Oxygen.

Finally, Vitalharvest (ASX: VTH) announced that it had determined the Roc Private Equity offer to be superior. On 1 April, VTH announced Roc had provided the company with a binding offer. VTH has now determined that it is superior to the offer made by Macquarie Agricultural Funds Management (MAFM). The move came yesterday, with MAFM provided five business days to respond. On the same day, MAFM revised its offer up from $1.08 per unit to $1.12, equalling the offer made by Roc Private Equity, likewise equalling the alternative option of a $322.2 million asset sale. VTH said they will update the market “as soon as possible” on the outcome.

That’s all for this week in ASX listed real estate companies, a mix of sales, loans, and the continuation of the battle for Vitalharvest.