Proceeds of Fairfax Media’s sale of its Chullora and Tullamarine print sites could be more than a third higher than estimated, according to reports.
The Australian Financial Review quotes “property industry executives” in valuing Chullora (Sydney) at $50-60 million and Tullamarine (Melbourne) at $25-30 million. In the Fairfax of the Future document last year, proceeds were put at more than $65 million for the two.
Agencies including CBRE, Jones Lang LaSalle, Colliers International, Knight Frank and Savills are reported to have pitched for the business.
The manroland presses and Ferag and Müller Martini mailroom equipment in the two plants could be worth anything or nothing. The gear is not included, and no valuation of it was mentioned in last year’s proposals, which set June 2014 as the date for closure of the city plants.
Fairfax is understood to plan relocation of one or more of the presses – possibly from the more modern Melbourne lines – to Auckland, New Zealand. Fairfax has been given planning permission to extend its North Richmond, NSW, print site with buildings large enough to accommodate more presses and equipment.
• Fairfax is less than three weeks away from the date it set for metro mastheads The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald to go tabloid, a move which will add flexibility to the issue of where the titles are printed.