Argosy buys 5 Wellington industrial properties for $59 million

Argosy Property, the listed property investor, has spent $59 million buying five industrial sites in Wellington as part of a plan to reduce exposure to retail properties.

The Auckland-based company drew down on its banking facilities to buy four sites in Lower Hutt and a fifth in Grenada North, with a weighted average lease term of 5.2 years. The major tenants across the sites include Wesfarmers Industrial - Safety NZ, Linfox Logistics (NZ), New Zealand Van Lines, Debonaire Furniture and Recall NZ, Argosy said in a statement.

The property investor has been diversifying its portfolio outside of Auckland, while focusing on industrial sites, rather than malls and retail investments, and last year identified $70 million worth of property to divest from.

In the same announcement, Argosy said it had restructured the terms of its banking facility with ANZ Bank New Zealand, Bank of New Zealand and Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp for overall annual savings of $200,000. Tranche A has been increased to $275 million, from $250 million to expire on Nov. 30, 2017, while tranche B also increased to $275 million from $250 million, and now expires on Nov. 30 2019.

Shares of Argosy last traded at $1.13 and have gained 4.6 percent since the start of the year, outperforming the NZX 50 Index's 3.6 percent gain. The stock is rated an average of 'hold' based on the consensus of five analysts as surveyed by Reuters, with a median price target of $1.04.