DNZ Property makes no progress with Argosy

Friday 3rd June 2011 1 Comment

DNZ Property Fund said it has made no progress in convincing the independent directors of Argosy Property Trust of the merits of its merger plan and it will assess other options.

DNZ Property made the statement after chairman Tim Storey and chief executive Paul Duffy met Trevor Scott and Peter Brook, the independent directors of Argosy, today.

"No progress was made as the independent directors are singularly focused on the internalisation of the manager and the termination of the management agreement with OnePath, a subsidiary of ANZ, and did not wish to advance the merger proposal," said Storey.

"We will continue to assess our options to achieve this goal," he said.

DNZ Property earlier approached the NZX listed Argosy with a proposed merger alternative to Argosy's previously announced plans to internalise its management contract. Under the plan DNZ Property continued as the listed property vehicle.

The Argosy independent directors have previously said that they were confident that internalisation of its management contract was the right strategy and was the best value enhancing opportunity available to unitholders.

The internalisation would preventing the sale of the management rights to a third party.

NZPA

Comments from our readers

On 3 June 2011 at 3:57 pm Peter. said:

Bigger fish tend to swallow up smaller fish so why would Argosy want to accept a merger into DNZ and lose it's superior identity? With both organisations operating an internalised management system Argosy would easily be the more dominant.