Investore investors overwhelmingly back purchase of Bunnings stores from manager

Thursday 8th February 2018

Investore Property shareholders have backed a proposal to buy three Bunnings retail sites from manager Stride Property Group for $78.5 million.

The acquisition needed shareholder approval because of the related party nature, and a resolution was passed with 99.9 percent support at a special meeting in Auckland today. The purchase price was at a 1.3 percent discount to the book value of the properties and independent adviser Northington Partners found the transaction was fair and reasonable to shareholders not aligned to Stride as it would boost earnings and allow for bigger dividends.

Investore independent chair Mike Allen spoke in favour of the deal at today's meeting, saying it would improve the real estate investor's property portfolio by adding a new tenant, was aligned with its objectives of investing in large format retail property, and offered immediate financial gains.

"The Bunnings transaction provides a positive step in securing investment opportunities that are consistent with the company's investment mandate," Allen said. "It rebalances the existing portfolio to ensure performance is consistent with Investore's primary investment objectives and supports Investore's goal to deliver total returns to shareholders over the medium to long term that are typically highly resilient across a wide range of market conditions."

Stride was been keen to exit large format retail properties since carving out Investore in 2016, but couldn't agree to new lease terms with Bunnings in time for the initial public offering. Stride agreed to pay $18 million to Bunnings to terminate the old leases and enable this deal.

Investore shares fell 0.7 percent to $1.42 while Stride stock declined 0.6 percent to $1.70.

(BusinessDesk)

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