Minter Ellison and Allen & Gledhill are advising Singapore's Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust on a $725 million deal for a portfolio of logistics properties in Australia.

Ascendas is buying 26 properties in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth from Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte. Ltd. and the Australian arm of Singapore-based real estate company Frasers Centrepoint Ltd. The 6.8 million square feet of space includes tenants such as Nestlé SA, Office Depot Inc.-owned OfficeMax and Australian retailer Wesfarmers Ltd.

In a statement, Ascendas said it was looking to increase its overseas investments to between 20 percent and 30 percent of its total property holdings from its current 4 percent, all of which are based in China. The deal with GIC and Frasers brings the figure to 14 percent.