Property owner Charter Hall Group has paid $61.5 million for a 50 per cent stake in a Perth distribution centre leased by grocery wholesaler Metcash.

Charter Hall bought the interest in the Metcash Regional Distribution Centre at Canning Vale from a retail investment fund managed by Australian Unity, the group said on Tuesday.

Metcash, the owner of the Franklins supermarket chain, has 12 years left on its lease of the 100,000-square-metre site.

Charter Hall said the purchase would be funded partly by equity that it recently raised and a new $200 million debt facility.

The acquisition takes the value of the group’s property portfolio to $565 million.