News Round Up

New columnist joins Good Returns, NZIJ lists, Quicken launches, Alliance buys value, Colonial First State buys building.

Sunday, July 2nd 2000, 12:00AM

Senior freelance journalist Pattrick Smellie has joined Good Returns as a regular columnist.

Pattrick will be writing a fortnightly column on issues affecting the financial services industry, particularly changes driven by Government.

He has written over the years for the Sunday Star-Times, The Australian, the Christchurch Press, the Independent Business Weekly, The Dominion and NBR. From 1985 to early 1988, he was a press secretary to the then Minister of Finance, Roger Douglas, was chairman of the Parliamentary Press Gallery 1995-97 and in 1997/98 spent a year in the US on a Harkness Fellowship.

He was previously National Affairs Editor at the Sunday Star-Times.

Currently Pattrick writes for the Australian Financial Review and TIME magazine.

Look out for his column in the Features section on Wednesday.

NZIJ lists
Nzij.co.nz has successfully completed its capital raising and it is now the first financial services company to be listed in the Stock Exchange's New Capital Market.

The company raised a total of $600,000 from 320 investors and it intends to use the money to buy stockbroking firm Reuhman and Co.

Reuhman and Co has been running for seven years and it is focussed on portfolio management for affluent private investors and investment banking for applied technology companies.

Alliance buys value
Alliance Capital and Sanford Bernstein have entered into an agreement whereby Alliance Capital will acquire Sanford Bernstein. Sanford Bernstein is a value driven manger, while Alliance has a growth investment style. However, the combining of theses two business will preserve the respective growth and value processes as portfolios will remain the responsibility of the same existing, separate investment teams. Source: IPAC Securities

New online trading option
New Zealand share investors can now trade online in five different exchanges worldwide through a new website which was launched today.

Users of the Quicken website will have the ability to trade shares on the New Zealand, Australian, Nasdaq, New York and AMEX exchanges.

"This is not being offered by a comparable website based here in New Zealand," Quicken chief executive Russell Hutchinson says.

He says the new site will fill a gap previously not catered for, and will allow consumers to exploit the power and convenience of the Internet.

"We are making financial dealings quick and easy – this is more than a mere website. Everything from learning about money management through to expert news, data feeds and completing transactions will be on the site."

The site also provides a range of financial news and information – such as mortgage rates and market news, and uses can book overseas travel through the site.

Other products and services to be added over the coming months will include mortgage and insurance broking, personal banking, investing in managed funds, or even financing a new car.

"Quicken’s vision is not to compete with existing financial services companies, but to bring them together in a marketplace, complemented by the world’s leading personal finance software, to create a web and software relationship where consumers can manage their money," Hutchinson says.

Colonial First State Property Trust expands portfolio
Colonial First State Property Trust has bought Panasonic House in Wellington

The purchase brings the total number of properties in the trust to 15 and increases the total value of the trust's assets to just over $207m.

Property Trust general manager Lloyd Cundy says Panasonic House will deliver a yield of 11.85 per cent. He expects this will be positive for the trust's overall yield and should flow through to distribution payments to unitholders.

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