Property billionaire Maurice Alter has moved to offload a half share in two recently-upgraded Melbourne shopping centres, including Pacific Werribee.
Mr Alter’s Pacific Group, which owns Pacific Werribee and Pacific Epping, is understood to have appointed agents who have shown interested parties through the centres, sources close to the deal said.
The $2 billion Pacific Group business, which includes retail management as well as property development, is run by Mr Alter’s son Sam Alter, who did not return calls from Fairfax Media.
The deal is understood to involve a half-share of two shopping centres worth up to $600 million, with the Alters expecting to seal a transaction for a 50 per cent share by January next year, sources said.
Both of Pacific’s regional shopping centres have recently undergone major revamps.
Pacific Werribee has just completed a $400 million expansion, growing
to 110,000 square metres from
80,000 square metres and attracted big name retailers such as H&M
and Aldi. The centre is anchored by a large Myer, a Big W, Kmart, Coles and Woolworths.
Polish-born Maurice Alter, 92, came to Australia as a displaced person after the war, working two jobs before buying his first commercial properties in Kew in the 1950s.
Simon Johanson/ The Age
