Woolworths is preparing to cash in on renewed enthusiasm for retail property, with a deal nearing completion to sell a shopping centre portfolio valued at about $300m to an Asia-based investor.

The supermarket group is understood to be divesting as many as eight sites, including recently opened centres and projects still under construction, spread along Australia’s eastern seaboard. The buyer is an entity connected to the Shayher Group, a major property player supported by the family behind a Taiwanese billionaire fortune, highlighting the growing influence of Asian capital in the local retail real estate market.

That same investment group, operating under the name Forest Endeavour, has also been pursuing other large-scale acquisitions. It is separately advancing plans to broaden its retail and hotel exposure in Queensland, including a $370m deal for the Paradise Centre and the Novotel hotel at Surfers Paradise.

For Woolworths, the proposed sale fits neatly with its long-standing property approach. Through its Fabcot arm, the company continues to hunt for locations nationwide as competition with Coles and Aldi intensifies. In recent years it has increasingly taken development into its own hands, partly because smaller developers struggled to make projects viable amid higher construction costs and interest rates. Once stores are established and leases secured, Woolworths typically looks to pass ownership to long-term investors.

Timing is also working in Woolworths’ favour. Retail property has swung back into favour with investors, and the yield on the mooted transaction is believed to sit close to 5 per cent. At those levels, the price tag is said to be beyond the reach of many listed property groups that already own shopping centres.

A Woolworths spokesperson said the company has a long history of developing and operating retail assets across Australia and that selling sites with leases in place is part of its normal business cycle. The spokesperson added that the group is reviewing which properties may be brought to market over the next year.

Although it has not commented directly on the potential sale, Woolworths remains one of the most active players in the sector. It continues to compete head-to-head with Coles for existing sites and is pushing ahead with plans for apartment developments above or adjacent to supermarkets in sought-after parts of Sydney and Melbourne. Recycling capital from income-producing assets and securing funding for projects already under way is expected to strengthen its capacity to expand further.

All of this is unfolding as the major supermarket chains battle fiercely on pricing, while also facing the prospect of legal action under tougher rules targeting price gouging. Coles has recently been growing sales faster than Woolworths at a pace not seen in nearly two decades and appears set to carry that momentum into this year. Even so, Woolworths has been noticeably more aggressive in property transactions.

Last year, it bought a shopping centre in Earlwood in Sydney’s south-west for $41m, despite the supermarket on site still being operated by Coles. Woolworths will assume control once the existing lease expires. The two rivals have also crossed paths in several other deals. In 2023, Woolworths acquired a major complex at The Entrance on the NSW Central Coast for $51m, anchored by a Coles store. A year earlier, it picked up a mall in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire for $68m where Coles remains the primary tenant. More than a decade ago, the tables were turned when Coles secured a strategic site in Neutral Bay from Woolworths.