Abacus Group

Last updated

Abacus Group
Company typePublic company
ASX:  ABG
Founded1996
Headquarters
Sydney
,
Australia
Areas served
Australia
Key people
  • Steven Sewell (Managing Director)
  • Myra Salkinder (Chairman)
RevenueDecrease2.svg A$284.3 million [1]  (2020)
Decrease2.svg A$84.7 million [1]  (2020)
Total assets Decrease2.svg A$245.8 million [1]
Total equity Decrease2.svg A$1.09 billion [1]  (2020)
Website abacusgroup.com.au

Abacus Group is a ASX 200 public listed company that specialises in investing in Australian Real estate investment trusts with an investment portfolio concentrated in the Office and Self Storage sectors. They manage legacy investments in property developments. The company was known as Abacus Property Group until August 2023, when they split off their self-storage business, Abacus Storage King. [2]

Contents

History

Abacus was established in 1996 by an academic from the University of British Columbia, Dr Frank Wolf, listing on the Australian Securities Exchange in November 2002. [3]

Operations

The Minerva Theatre building, is part of the company's property portfolio in Sydney Metro Theatre in Potts Point July 2019.jpg
The Minerva Theatre building, is part of the company's property portfolio in Sydney

It has a single corporate office in Sydney, Australia. The current chair is the South-African born, Myra Salkinder. [4] The CEO Steven Sewell was appointed in 2018 after leaving Vicinity Centres. [5]

The group's investment portfolio is divided into four divisions: office spaces, self-storage facilities, retail shopping centres and industrial properties. [6] It also owns some historically notable buildings, such as the late art-deco Minerva Theatre near Kings Cross in Sydney. [7]

The group's asset portfolio is heavily weighted to office towers, such as 201 Elizabeth Street in Sydney, the Brisbane Club and RAA Place in Adelaide. [8] [9] [10] Its first major investment success was purchasing the heritage listed CBC building at 343 George Street, Sydney for $55 million and sold it the next year for $78 million. [3] As of 2021, the group is considered to be highly exposed to downturn in office spaces since the COVID-19 pandemic led to fewer office workers working from their office. [11]

While the group primarily invests in commercial property assets, such as office towers [12] [13] [14] most of its recent growth has been in self-storage units, a sector buoyed by the storage needs of Australia's growing e-commerce industry. [15] In 2020, Abacus acquired Storage King Pty Ltd, buying the remaining $50m of shares. [16] In early 2021 it purchased a further four self storage facilities in Adelaide and Sydney, along with the remaining 60% of the Oasis Centre in Queensland. [17]

In 2019, the group began divesting from the residential property sector. [8]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "ABP Report 2020" (PDF).
  2. ↑ "Half-Year Financial Report: 31 December 2023". Abacus Group. 27 February 2024.
  3. 1 2 "Tributes flow for Abacus number cruncher: Frank Wolf". Australian Financial Review. 2018-04-18. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  4. ↑ "Myra Salkinder, Abacus Property Group: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2021-05-07.
  5. ↑ ""Former Federation Centres CEO Steven Sewell to lead Abacus Property Group"". AFR. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  6. ↑ "IBISWorld - Industry Market Research, Reports, and Statistics".
  7. ↑ Thompson, Angus (2021-04-28). "'White elephant of hope': Key to Kings Cross' revival in jeopardy". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2021-05-07.
  8. 1 2 Johanson, Simon (2019-04-30). "Abacus sells four sites worth $31m". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2021-05-07.
  9. ↑ Cummins, Carolyn (2021-03-30). "Charter Hall and Abacus lodged plans for $630m tower upgrade". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2021-05-07.
  10. ↑ "Tallest Building in Australia: Where is it & Who Built it?". Architecture & Design. Retrieved 2021-05-07.
  11. ↑ "Coronavirus Australia: Bricks and slaughter as CBDs turn to ghost towns". Australian Financial Review. 2020-05-29. Retrieved 2021-05-07.
  12. ↑ ""Public Trustee needs new HQ ahead of $60m tower sale"". Courier Mail. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  13. ↑ ""Developers plan post-pandemic office towers"". SMH. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  14. ↑ ""Abacus, Public Trustee to Offload Brisbane Office Tower"". The Urban Developer. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  15. ↑ "Abacus finds returns in self-storage". Australian Financial Review. 2021-02-18. Retrieved 2021-05-07.
  16. ↑ ""Abacus takes out Storage King in $50m deal"". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  17. ↑ Page, Hannah (2021-05-03). "Abacus seeks haven in Oasis and self storage investments". Australian Property Journal. Retrieved 2021-05-07.
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