GPT Group (ASX:GPT) has sold 50 per cent of its interest in two shopping malls to its private wholesale fund.

The property trust sold half of its stake in Casuarina Square shopping centre in Darwin and its share in Westfield at Woden in the ACT.

GPT’s says the transaction is expected to be marginally accretive to its earnings per share this year and about 20 per cent geared.

GPT’s chief says, it is committed to optimising returns to shareholders and says it will re-invest the proceeds from the sale to “selective acquisitions and developments in logistics and business park assets in line with (its) strategy to increase GPT's exposure to the industrial sector.”

GPT announced yesterday it decided to keep its 50 per cent share in the MLC Centre in Sydney.

In its 2011 financial year, GPT generated a net profit of $246.2 Million