Macquarie NZ conduit to Peters MacGregor success

MEDIA RELEASE

February 11, 2004

Macquarie New Zealand conduit to
Peters MacGregor success story

Macquarie New Zealand is giving New Zealand investors the opportunity to invest with Peters MacGregor Capital Management (PMCM), one of Australia’s most successful boutique global equities fund managers, whose services up until now have been restricted to those with $A2 million or more to invest.

John Rowley, head of Macquarie’s Financial Services Group, said a number of New Zealand investors, including Michael Hill, already had a long and successful association with the fund manager’s founder, Wayne Peters, who is a director of the New Zealand jeweller.

“Once again we are delighted to be able to use our transtasman structure to bring forward opportunities to New Zealanders who are looking to make potentially high performing investments which will complement their New Zealand and Australian investment portfolios,” he said.

“Peters MacGregor is Macquarie Equities New Zealand’s first IPO of the year. We are seeing an increasing number of IPOs coming out of Australia, and Macquarie’s presence across Australia and New Zealand means that New Zealanders can participate.”

He said Macquarie in Australia was acting as lead manager in the $A100 million Initial Public Offering, Peters MacGregor Investments (PMI), which would be managed by PMCM.

The PMI offer is for 100 million shares at $A1.00, with each share carrying a free option to purchase another share at $A1.00. The minimum investment amount is $A2000 and the offer opened on February 3. It closes on March 26, with listing on the Australian Stock Exchange planned for mid-April.

Mr Rowley said PMCM was established in 1999 and had an impressive performance record, earning an average compound gross return of 32.28%pa for its investors (predominantly achieved by selective investment in US equity markets).

He said Wayne Peters, who was also chief investment officer of PMCM, had been managing funds for over 10 years and had most of his own personal wealth invested through PMCM. Mr Peters would also be investing $A1 million of his own money in PMI.

PMCM’s investment strategies and philosophies followed those of Wall St legends, Professor Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett - taking a long-term approach to investment and using value-based methods for valuing businesses.

“Their investment philosophy is to concentrate investments in a small number of outstanding businesses, a maximum of 20, and holding these investments for the long term.

“By focusing on a small number of hand-picked companies, they are better placed to know and understand those companies’ management and their prospects.

“They buy businesses they understand, that they believe have outstanding opportunities and financial performance, and have a ‘bright future’. They also only buy into them if they are trading at a price that is at least 25% less than the valuation as assessed by Peters MacGregor. An example of this is Peters McGregor’s investment in Hilton Hotels, a stock which was purchased at a large discount to valuation post September 11 and is now a strong performer in the investment portfolio.”

He said PMCM was a long-term investor, and only bought into shares that it was prepared to hold for at least 10 years.

PMI would be able to invest in all of the 23 markets that comprised the MSCI World index and had historically invested in the North American and Australasian markets.

“The key focus of PMCM has been capital growth, and with PMI its investment objective is to achieve a minimum 12% annual compound return (comprising both income and capital growth) over the long term, which it defines as greater than five years.”

He said that PMCM currently had about A$70 million in funds under management.

“PMI provides retail investors the opportunity to access the stock-picking skills of Wayne Peters, previously only available to high net worth investors, and the listed vehicle gives the added advantage of liquidity, “ he said.

Mr Rowley said interested investors should contact Macquarie New Zealand for a copy of the investment statement and prospectus. They should also take tax advice before investing.

PMI will be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in mid April.

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