JLL Marketing $440M-Plus Aussie Resort Portfolio

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA-The locally based GPT Group is putting its Voyages Hotels & Resorts division up for sale, and has hired Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels to market the assets. The package includes land and properties throughout Australia.

A valuation of the portfolio by three independent groups last month put them at A$513 million ($440.4 million). This does not include the 139-room Alice Springs Resort, in Alice Springs; the 86-room Cradle Mountain Lodge, in Tasmania; and Wrotham Park Lodge, a 10-room facility in Western Queensland, which are set for valuation next year and in 2010.

Highlights of the valued properties include the 930 Ayers Rock Resort, near the famous rock formation in the middle of the country, and five island resorts by the Great Barrier Reef. GPT is looking to sell the properties to focus on its core portfolio, which is mostly made up of retail and office assets. Marketing of the properties is expected to end in October.