AmTrust wrestles Andersen over 18-month lease 'agreement' deal

By Christine Nikiel

Friday 19th July 2002

LEASE DISPUTED: Over the old Pricewaterhouse Centre

The Auckland arm of international professional services firm Andersen says it will defend claims it reneged on a deal with AmTrust Pacific to occupy and take naming rights over the old Pricewaterhouse Centre in Auckland.

AmTrust is suing Andersen, claiming it backed out of an agreement to lease the top two and a half levels of the 19-level building at 66 Wyndham St.

AmTrust chief executive Peter Wall said his company had executed a heads of agreement with Andersen on June 6, 2001.

Mr Wall said AmTrust had delayed filing a statement of claim until May 10 this year hoping to negotiate with Andersen, but had been rebuffed.

He said AmTrust wanted to reclaim costs from the 18-month lease negotiation period with Andersen. AmTrust had also lost opportunities to look for other tenants for the space during that time, he said.

An Andersen spokesman, who declined to be named, said negotiations with AmTrust had "not been taken to completion" as a result of Andersen's merger in April with Ernst & Young, and its move to Ernst & Young's premises in Shortland St's Axa building.

"They say there had been sufficient progress to create a binding contractual commitment,' the spokesman said. "We believe we were still in the negotiation phase. A contractual commitment had not been agreed on. Nothing was crystallised," the spokesman said.

"Essentially the developments with Andersen worldwide meant many of the company's international aspirations had not carried through."

The spokesman said all lease agreements had to be vetted by Andersen's US-based head office, and the proposed Wyndham Tower lease had not undergone the final approval process.

AmTrust has 26 buildings in its portfolio with a total value of $350 million. Its three Auckland buildings, the Wyndham Tower, Telecom Hse on Hereford St and the SAP Centre on Symonds St, make up about 85% of AmTrust's total portfolio.

Andersen's proposed lease would have represented three of the five floors vacated by PricewaterhouseCoopers when it moved to AMP's new waterfront tower in April.

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