AMP NZ Office Trust meets changing tenant requirements while enhancing revenue and reducing risksMay 24, 2004 AMP NZ Office Trust (ANZO) has concluded a series of leasing transactions at Wellington’s HP Tower, meeting the changing requirements of three tenants while maintaining 100 percent occupancy and enhancing revenues from the property. The transactions include the retention of an existing tenant, law firm Bell Gully, and a new lease to AMP Financial Services, negotiated on an arms-length basis. These have increased the Weighted Average Lease Term (WALT) at HP Tower from 6.94 years to 7.72, providing ANZO with continuity of future revenues and reduced forward lease expiry risk. ANZO executive manager Robert Lang said NZ Milk, an existing tenant on two levels, needed to move its operations to Auckland following parent company Fonterra’s relocation there. However NZ Milk had five years to run on its lease. Meanwhile, Bell Gully wanted to extend the term of its lease commitment to the building and reconfigure and refurbish its offices, to create a more efficient and innovative layout thereby reducing its space requirement from five levels to four as a result. “This series of events could potentially have left ANZO with three levels vacant in HP Tower,” said Mr Lang. “NZ Milk has surrendered its lease on acceptable terms. In turn, Bell Gully having extended its lease by nine years to the year 2018, will occupy some of the space vacated by NZ Milk while its premises are being refitted, and has been able to surrender one level which will be surplus to its requirements. “And AMP Financial Services, a blue-chip addition to the ANZO tenant list, will upgrade to more efficient accommodation,” said Mr Lang. Importantly for ANZO and its investors, Mr Lang said the entire process would be completed without any cashflow void, which can occur while incoming tenants are having their new premises fitted out. “By presenting a range of options, we have been able to make the requirements of three tenants work, when – in pure contractual terms – there were aspects that would have been difficult for them to achieve separately,” said Mr Lang. “As part of ANZO’s commitment to be landlord of choice for office tenants, we will work alongside businesses to deliver accommodation that’s flexible if their circumstances change.”
AMP NZ Office Trust (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 currently owns eight New Zealand office buildings with a total value of more than NZ$600 million – Auckland’s PricewaterhouseCoopers Tower, ANZ Centre, IAG House and Quay Tower; and Wellington’s HP Tower, 125 The Terrace, No. 1 and 3 The Terrace and Pastoral House. ANZO is managed by AMP Ronin Management Limited. Media enquiries: |