News Round Up

Cool reaction to Celsius, Black Rock adds fund, St Laurence buys syndicate property.

Monday, February 18th 2008, 6:33AM

The Celsius offering from Macquarie is proceeding although there has been a very low uptake from investors.

The offer, which is a buy-write fund managed by Barclay Capital, closed on Friday and is due to list on February 29, even though it fell well short of its minimum.

As a result promoter Macquarie and Barclays have agreed to reduce the minimum offer from $20m to $5.2m and agreed to meet any additional costs which may eventuate through the allocations initially being less than $20m.

They say the practical impact of this reduction on investors therefore is neutral and it is expected that the fund will increase over time. In addition to liquidity through the NZSX, units can also be redeemed weekly off-market at net asset value.

Fisher Funds changes
Interesting things are happening at Fisher Funds with Warren Couillault resigning as a director, but staying on as an employee. Fisher intends to appoint a new director this week.

BlackRock launches new fund

BlackRock Investment Management launched its new Global diversified Bond Fund in New Zealand last week.

Brett Jackson, who is responsible for developing BlackRock's wholesale business in this country says, "The new fund is an ideal vehicle for KiwiSaver funds, stand-alone superannuation schemes, government funds and charities."

He believes that with New Zealand's recent tax changes, along with the volatility of global and local markets, "it is clear that wholesale investors, such as superannuation schemes, are allocating more to global bonds as an asset class. The launch of the fund means that our track record in managing global bond portfolios...can now be fully leveraged by New Zealand investors."

BlackRock is one of the world's largest publicaly traded investment management firms, with offices in 19 countries.

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St Laurence buys two key Wellington properties
St Laurence and Finance have purchased outright two key Wellington properties in Victoria and Wakefield Streets, previously owned by two of its syndicates.

Executive chairman Kevin Podman says St Laurence saw full ownership as attractive because of the properties' strategic location and strong leases. He believes "outright ownership means we can now consolidate these into the fund in a cleaner structure for our investors."

It has acquired the building owned by the Wakefield Property Fund and one other.

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