Weekly briefs

Public Trust cleared for corporatisation, GPG rekindles Tower bid, Nat Mut to become AXA, NPT bid called fair.

Sunday, March 14th 1999, 12:00AM

A decision from the Court of Appeal on ownership of the Public Trust Office's assets has cleared the way for it to be corporatised.
In a unanimous decision five judges upheld last year's ruling by Justice Heron in the High Court that there is no legal or equitable private interest in the PTO's reserves.
"It is a strong and clear judgement which, barring any further appeal, means we can get on with the process of corporatisation, as we announced in December last year," Treasurer Bill Birch and the Minister in charge of the Public Trust Office, Tuariki Delamere said in a statement.

"Corporatisation will allow the PTO to operate under the same rules and to offer the same mix of services as any modern trustee company," they said.

GPG rekindles its Tower bid
Guinness Peat Group's bitter battle through its subsidiary, Tyndall Australia, to get its hooks into Tower Corporation may not be over.
Tyndall had applied to the Court of Appeal to have its case heard by the Privy Council.
Last month, the Court of Appeal gave Tower the green light to change from a mutual to a listed company, quashing Tyndall's hopes. Then GPG made an agreement over the sale of its stake in Tyndall to Royal and SunAlliance.
Tower managing director James Boonzaier said Tyndall's move was puzzling as it was about to be sold.

National Mutual to become AXA
National Mutual is, as reported by Good Returns earlier, to be rebranded AXA in New Zealand.
Currently AXA, which owns 51 per cent of National Mutual, is rebranding all of its businesses globally with the AXA name.
AXA executive chairman Claude Bebear says the company is not looking to sell its stake in National Mutual. However, he is looking for the company to improve its return on equity and recapture market share.

NPT bid called fair
National Property Trust's proposed takeover of the Newmarket Property Trust (NPT) is fair, according to the independent report prepared by Anthony Frankham.
Based on revenue forecasts submitted, Newmarket unit holders were disadvantaged in the first two years following the amalgamation. They appeared to be better off than National unit holders in the third year, and presumably after that, he says.
"I consider that the relative exchange of value in the amalgamation is not unfair. These issues notwithstanding, I consider the proposed transaction to be fair to the unit holders of National in overall terms.
"In my opinion, it is a material and significant advantage for the National unit holders for the size of National to be increased."
The combination would give a greater spread of risk, greater ability to borrow, improved geographic spread of investments and management economies of scale.

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