The commercial office, retail and industrial properties investor Stride is spinning off its Investore subsidiary in an initial public offering (IPO), as part of a larger plan to buy more than a quarter of a billion dollars of supermarket properties.
Investore will end up with 39 large format standalone retail properties. Photo: RNZ
Investore will pay Shopping Centres Australiasia $267.4 million for 14 supermarket properties, located throughout New Zealand, and currently occupied by Countdown.
The supermarket deal is conditional on Investore raising the necessary capital through an IPO, which will see it list on the New Zealand sharemarket, with Stride retaining a 19.9 percent cornerstone stake in the company.
Stride's shareholders will get one share in Investore for every four Stride shares, at no charge, which will give them between 33.4 and 38.2 percent of the listed company.
Investore will end up with 39 large format standalone retail properties, while Stride will continue to hold a mix of office, large-format retail malls and industrial space in its portfolio.
Stride is also pushing ahead with its plans to separate its core property investment business from its fast-growing property management business, in order to retain its special tax status for shareholders.
Further details of the deal are expected to be released later today.
