Charter Hall first came into existence in the early 90s during a period when Australia was hit with a significant property crisis that resulted in a serious financial crisis. Joint Managing Director of the organisation David Southon recalls: Some of Australias major banks were in a pretty difficult position at that time, given that they were overexposed to property following substantial growth in their property loan books during the property boom in the late 1980s. Property markets around the country were significantly oversupplied, and, in many instances, overleveraged at that time. Property values declined rapidly, resulting in a liquidity crisis where many investors were unable to redeem their investments in a very challenging property market.
At that stage I, together with two more senior executives from Eurolynx Properties, Andre Biet and Cedric Fuchs, decided to establish our own property company. We managed to enter into an agreement to provide property services to the Eurolynx business, which included the Heine Property Funds Managements company. We faced a number of initial challenges. However, this agreement with Eurolynx provided us with the cashflow to support the company in its infancy while we secured new business, which was a very difficult task during a property crisis. We needed a name that sounded established, safe and secure, rather than something that sounded like a start-up, so we settled on Charter Hall, David notes.