Goodman Property nets $27.5m on Viaduct sale

Thursday 6th August 2009

Goodman Property Trust netted $27.5 million from the sale of Pernod Ricard NZ House on Auckland’s viaduct precinct and is lining up similar sized deal as it offloads non-core assets to strengthen its balance sheet.

“There was a good level of interest which surprised us a little,” Dakin told BusinessWire. “We’ve got another one on the market, which we expect to be in a similar range” as the Pernod Ricard building, he said.

The sale, at a 3.3% discount from its March valuation, takes the trust to about 75% through its sale programme, which has raised $77.2 million since March last year. Chief executive John Dakin told shareholders yesterday the company’s financial position was robust with debt at 35% of property assets. The shares climbed 1% to 99 cents today, while the NZX 50 index slipped 0.4%.

The NZSE Property Group Index has gained 8% in the past month as commercial property trusts sold assets to repay debt, while managing to retain tenants. Declining property values, though, have wiped out net profits, with Goodman, Kiwi Income Property Trust, Kermadec Property Fund and ING Property all posting full-year net losses.

Goodman posted a loss of $74.1 million for the year ended March 31 after it wrote down the value of its investment and development assets by 10% to $1.5 billion.

Dakin said Goodman wasn’t pursuing acquisitions and preferred to focus on developing its own properties. The trust developed around 50 buildings, worth some $500 million, in its portfolio.

“We’ve been very active in developing our own property,” he said. “There’s no question our development activity has slowed, but it hasn’t completely stopped and we expect a couple to be completed.”

Businesswire.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet