Shares in Centro Properties and Allco Finance, two of the biggest Australian casualties of the global credit crisis, rose on Tuesday after both companies sold assets as part of efforts to improve their balance sheets.

Centro, an Australia shopping mall operator that also has assets in New Zealand and the US, on Tuesday said it had sold 29 of the 31 properties in the Centro America Fund for A$735m ($720m). The price struck represents a 10 per cent discount to the book value of the properties.