Argosy sells Porirua, Palmerston North retail property

Feb. 13 (BusinessDesk) – Argosy Property Trust, which is asking unitholders to approve corporatising its capital structure, has sold four Porirua and one Palmerston North properties.

The four Porirua properties sold for $16.2 million, or 106 percent of their combined book value, while the Palmerston North property went for an undisclosed value at book value. The Palmerston North property has been vacant since Rebel Sports relocated last year. A property previously owned by Briscoe Group is also the subject of negotiations, the company said.

“The properties had been identified as having longer term development potential however this has been determined to be unlikely to be feasible for a number of years,” Argosy said in a statement.

Argosy unitholders will vote next week in Auckland on whether to accept the plan to transform the unit trust structure into a company, with 75 percent support needed to get over the line. Chairman Mike Smith said the board “unanimously recommends” unitholders vote in favour.

The property investor paid $20 million last year to Australia & New Zealand Banking-owned OnePath to buy out the management contract, in a deal independent advisor Grant Samuel deemed to be “fair” and in the “best interests of unitholders.” It valued the contract at between $19.7 million and $23.7 million if it was sold to a third party at that time.

The units were unchanged at 84.5 cents in trading today.

(BusinessDesk)

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