A deal involving New Zealand's largest chain of discount factory outlet shops was the biggest foreign property transaction approved in the latest list of Overseas Investment Office disclosures.
Giant Australian-based institutional investor Lend Lease owns Meridian Mall in Dunedin plus the Dress-Smart chain, which has big centres in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, but needed permission for the deal involving assets worth $197 million.
It got consent to buy a freehold interest in 3.3ha of land at 24 Main Rd, Tawa, the site of its Wellington Dress-Smart outlet.
State clearance was needed because the land was deemed sensitive and the deal involved assets worth more than $100 million.
Lend Lease Investment sold assets to Lend Lease Group, comprising Lend Lease Real Estate Partners New Zealand, Lend Lease Retail Estate Investment, Sub-trust and Lend Lease Funds Management.
"The overseas investment will allow Lend Lease Group to continue its involvement in the assets which were acquired in 2010 ... to maximise returns and provide greater access to capital in order to better operate the develop those assets," the office said.
The outlet chain was originally established by author, publisher and photographer John Bougen and his associates at Parnell-based Prime Retail, who nine years ago sold to Australia's ING Retail.
The Australians paid $63.35 million for the portfolio of what was then three Dress-Smarts in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Last year, Lend Lease, which is 77% Australian-owned and 9% United States-owned, bought the chain in a deal which also involved state clearance.
The second-largest deal approved by the office was for Dutch-controlled Exego Group to sell assets worth $183 million to America's Genuine Parts Company.
The office said the deal would give the Americans "a significant stake in New Zealand's leading automotive aftermarkets parts distributor".
Permission was also granted for the sale of Waiheke Island's only airport to British investor Neil Greer. Denis Brian Musson's Waiheke Air Services (2002) can be sold to Greer's Waiheke Island Airpark Resort.
Switzerland's Monte Forestry got clearance for a $16.5 million deal to buy 5022ha of freehold land and 1480ha of leasehold land at East Cape from Britain's The Ingleby NZ Ltd Partnership.
- Anne Gibson
