AMP NZ Office Trust settles on landmark Wellington propertiesJuly 15, 2004 New Zealand’s largest listed office property investor, AMP NZ Office Trust (ANZO), today settled the purchase of two of Wellington’s landmark office buildings, the Mobil on the Park Building and the State Insurance Tower. ANZO entered into unconditional agreements to purchase the two buildings in a $146 million deal announced on 27 May 2004. ANZO Executive Manager, Rob Lang, said the acquisitions were part of ANZO’s investment policy of pursuing growth in the prime sector of the office property market. “Vacancy in the Wellington market is reaching historically low levels and tenant demand remains strong; these favourable supply and demand trends are expected to lead to further rental growth. The acquisition of two of Wellington’s best buildings will enable ANZO to capture these trends and enhance future distribution growth and performance. “Both the Mobil on the Park and the State Insurance buildings are renowned for their prestige and superior locations. They have large and efficient floor plates and contemporary tenancy services, blue-chip tenant lists and occupancy rates of 98% and 98.7% respectively,” said Mr Lang. ANZO funded the acquisitions via $55.6 million of bank debt and an offer of Mandatory Convertible Notes (MCNs) worth $95.2 million. Existing ANZO unit-holders were offered two MCNs for every nine Units held in the Trust at 5.00pm on 11 June 2004 at a price of $1.00 each. The annual interest rate for the MCNs has been set at 8.5%. Mr Lang said he was pleased that the MCN offer, which closed on Thursday 8 July, had been strongly supported by both existing and new investors. Valid acceptances were received for 93.1% of the MCN offer. The underwriter, ABN AMRO Rothschild, had received strong demand from investors for the shortfall of 6,550,026 MCNs, and had allocated the full amount to a syndicate of subunderwriters consisting of institutions and retail brokers. “The MCNs are listed on the NZX and began trading today, receiving strong early support from investors”. “We have successfully completed what we set out to do – to purchase these two iconic buildings and to raise the funds to pay for them with an attractive and well supported MCN offer,” said Mr Lang. As a result of these latest acquisitions, ANZO now owns 10 of New Zealand’s best office buildings with a total value of more than NZ$760 million – Auckland’s Pricewaterhouse Coopers Tower, ANZ Centre, IAG House and Quay Tower; as well as Wellington’s HP Tower, 125 The Terrace, No.1 and 3 The Terrace and Pastoral House. ANZO is a unit trust listed on the New Zealand Exchange, which invests predominantly in prime and A-Grade CBD office properties in major New Zealand cities. ANZO is managed by AMP Ronin Management Limited. Media enquiries: |