Delta buys sections at Jacks Point

The Jacks Point development in  2007. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
The Jacks Point development in 2007. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
Dunedin City Council-owned electricity contractor Delta Utility Services has again ventured into the property development market, buying 100 sections of the 700-lot Jacks Point development near Queenstown.

The deal is understood to be for between $2 million and $3 million.

The sections are retailing for about $300,000 each.

Delta intends putting in infrastructure for an unconfirmed cost of about $50,000-$60,000 per section and selling them - with the sections kept at an "affordable housing" price range.

Delta chief executive Grady Cameron, who declined to confirm the price paid, profit margin or funding structure, citing commercial sensitivity, did think dividends to the council would be enhanced.

"Delta expects this investment to enhance its profitability in the medium to long term," Mr Cameron said in a reply to written questions yesterday.

The 100 sections were from a tranche of 350 contracted to Hanover Finance.

However, when it was placed in moratorium last year, Hanover was released from obligation to purchase the 100 sections.

They were sold to Delta by listed Australian infrastructure company Babcock & Brown, which is the 100% owner of the residential sections of Jacks Point, which is now project-managed by Jacks Point Ltd.

Delta first moved into the property development market last September, taking a long-term $4 million 50-50 stake in the 150-section second stage of Central Otago businessman Jim Boult's Luggate subdivision.

At the time, Delta's former chief executive John Walsh said he expected there would be criticism of a council-owned company investing in property, especially during a downturn, but with $50 million of assets behind Delta, the $4 million investment was relatively small and there was a good potential return, "well beyond 10%".

Yesterday, Mr Cameron declined to say if there had been any sales at Luggate.

Jacks Point Ltd businessman John Darby declined to reveal the 100-section selling price, saying only that Delta got the sections in a "favourable transaction".

He was pleased the sections were not bought by investors, speculators or land-banked, in that Delta would provide "affordable housing [sections] which Jacks Point had lacked".

He believed the deal was low risk for Delta, as it was structured over time and Delta would be undertaking the infrastructure work.

In early June, Delta announced it been appointed preferred contractor for all future development work at the site, on State Highway 6 south of Frankton, and was also in partnership with Jacks Point Ltd to provide estate management services to the new Jacks Point township.

That work includes providing daily services such as power supply, water, roading, sewage and rubbish removal.

Delta, an electricity management and maintenance business, has work contracts across the South Island, including line maintenance and the operation of water, wastewater, stormwater networks and treatment facilities for several councils, employing 543 people.

In March, Delta posted an after-tax profit of $1.04 million for the six months to December, delivering a $1 million dividend to the council for that period.

 

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