News Round Up

Monday, January 24th 2005, 3:00AM

One of New Zealand’s largest financial planning firms, Spicers Wealth Management, has decided to start using investments from finance companies, but is only going to use two firms.

The move is interesting as many in the financial planning community consider finance company offerings to be too risky for the returns promised.

Spicers says it has done extensive research on finance company offerings “to identify suitable investment opportunities for our clients.” [MORE]

St Laurence has another go at checking into the Hilton
Wellington-based investment group St Laurence is having another tilt at Auckland's landmark Hilton Hotel.

St Laurence said it would soon offer fixed interest bonds paying 10.25% per annum for three years in a bid to raise $9.5 million. That money would go towards buying the Hilton Hotel on Auckland's Princes Wharf for $51 million. [MORE]

Kiwi Income to review its fees
Kiwi Income Properties says that it will review its fund management fees. KIPL has also elected to waive the management fee associated with the trust's current 19.9% investment in Capital Properties.

"We have received very positive feedback from our unit holders regarding the overall performance of the trust. However, unit holders have also indicated that they would like to see better alignment between management fees and unit holder interests given the scale of the trust," Kiwi chief executive Angus McNaughton said. [MORE]

This week’s big events
The main events this week are the Reserve Bank’s review of the official cash rate. As we report in the Mortgage News section of the site economists think that the central bank is very nervous about what is happening at the moment, but generally agree there will be no increase on Thursday.

Tower has its special meeting regarding the spin-off of its Australian Wealth Management business. The consensus view is that shareholders will give approval, however existing shareholders are faced with a number of tough questions; sell TWR shares pre-float, take up entitlements and pay some more money or do nothing. A good summary of the options is included in the latest McEwen Investor Report. You can order your copy here.

Other events this week include the TOWER and AIA roadshows for advisers, plus BT Funds have economist Chris Caton in the country. Details here.Busy week all around.

Phil's Blog

Why I like financial services

« Managed funds produce good returns in 2004

Sovereign takes regulation bull by the horns »

Special Offers