News Round Up

AMPAM outsources, A tale of two forests, Order Investment Statements online for free, Securities Commission wants to hear from you.

Sunday, June 11th 2000, 12:00AM

AMP Asset Management (AMPAM) has selected Jones Lang LaSalle to provide property management for a $900 million property portfolio.

AMPAM awarded the three-year outsourcing contract to Jones Lang LaSalle after a two-month evaluation of the property services market and a review of the capacity of the major providers.

"We’re delighted to have secured Jones Lang LaSalle to provide us with property management services and look forward to a partnering relationship with them," AMPAM’s acting head of property Anthony Beverley says.

"AMPAM Property’s core business is property investment, not property management, and the outsourcing will enable AMPAM to concentrate on adding value to the portfolio," Beverley says.

A tale of two forests

Nuhaka Farm Forestry Fund has made its first annual profit from felling trees since listing on the sharemarket in the early 1970s.

The fund reported a trading profit of $1.07 million in the 12 months ended March 31.

The initial harvest, although lower in volume than expected, provided higher returns than anticipated partly due to the weak New Zealand dollar and rising Asian demand.

Fellow listed forestry fund Opio reported an after-tax profit of $190,000 compared to a loss of $393,000 in the corresponding period last year.

Trustee, Perpetual Trust, says two of the Opio blocks will be harvested this year as current log prices have resulted in the expected net proceeds doubling from that reported last year.

Order investment statements online
Advisers wanting to re-order supplies of investment statements can do it for free online through a new site established by Freightways subsidiary Stocklink.

The beauty of the website is that it is a one-stop shop for investment statements. Instead of having to ring each individual fund manager for more investment statements they can all be ordered through the site.

Currently there are more than 90 products from leading companies such as BT Funds Management, WestpacTrust and Sovereign Assurance available through the site.

The latest investment statement to be included to the service is the Eurogrowth Fund.

This service is free to use. To place an order go to the following website www.financial-link.co.nz

Securities Commission wants to hear from you
The Securities Commission is seeking public comment on a possible scheme under which it could make binding rulings on securities law.

At present the commission may express authoritative opinions on some enforcement matters. For example, it can suspend registered prospectuses and investment statements and can grant exemptions from securities law. On these matters the Commission's opinions on the law are binding on the parties.

Under the scheme the Commission would be permitted to make rulings on securities law more generally.

The main justification for the scheme would be to give greater certainty on the law relating to investment contracts offered to the public. A scheme, if carefully formulated, could benefit market participants and the investing public.

Binding Rulings on Securities Law - A Discussion Paper is available from the commission's web site www.sec-com.govt.nz.

The deadline for comment Friday 4 August 2000.

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