News Round Up

Kingfish nets 6%, AIA bonds A+, GTFM become Tyndall, Direct sharemarket trading coming soon.

Sunday, July 18th 2004, 7:37AM

Kingfish nets 6% in first quarter
Listed investment company Kingfish has achieved a 6.21% increase in net asset value achieved in the first three months since listing.

The fund is 74% invested in the New Zealand share market and has 26% of its assets in cash. It owns 17 stocks, two of which are listed in the NZAX. The four largest positions, comprising 40% of the portfolio, are Freightways, Metlifecare, Turners Auctions and Waste Management.

The present combined value of Kingfish shares and options for those investors who participated in the IPO is $1.05 compared with the issue price of $1.00, representing a 5% gain in three months.

The fund has looked at, but not yet invested in any unlisted companies.

GTFM becomes Tyndall

Guardian Trust Funds Management has changed its name to Tyndall Investment Management New Zealand Limited (Tyndall).

The change avoids any confusion with related company New Zealand Guardian Trust and aligns the business with its sister company in Australia.

After previously being a division of New Zealand Guardian Trust (NZGT), Guardian Trust Funds Management became a separate business in 2000, but retained Guardian Trust within its name.

Tyndall has more than $3 billion in funds under management for corporates, superannuation funds, charitable trusts and retail fund providers such as NZGT and Asteron Life.

“The point has been reached where it is appropriate for us to have a totally separate market identity,” general manager Anthony Quirk says.

There are no people changes within the organisation and Tyndall will continue with the investment philosophy of being an active manager, seeking to make incremental gains based on taking well-researched positions that provide consistent added value.

AIA bonds A+
Standard & Poor’s has assigned its ‘A+’ long-term rating to Auckland International Airport’s proposed senior unsecured bond program. At the same time, AIAL’s ‘A+’ issuer credit rating was affirmed. The outlook is stable.

Some of the money raised will be used to refinance up to $200 million of outstanding bank loans and commercial paper.

S&P says that the proposed refinancing will reduce the overall ongoing interest cost to AIAL and beneficially extend the term of the company’s debt.

Direct sharemarket trading
The New Zealand Exchange says sharebroking firms will be able to trade directly into the New Zealand market via direct market access (DMA) from August 4.

"A review of global markets indicates that a significant level of liquidity is driven by investors and traders who use DMA. In addition, DMA will serve investors who use sophisticated trading strategies that require instant or automated order execution. This is especially important for trading in futures and options contracts which we're introducing later in the year," NZX Strategy man Carl Daucher says.

CitiGroup Global Markets and ABN AMRO New Zealand are already accredited to go live with the first part of DMA. The NZX expects that another three firms will be accredited by the time DMA goes live.

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