Legal battle no bar to AmTrust

By Christine Nikiel

Friday 22nd November 2002

A drawn-out legal wrangle over a lease agreement with international professional services firm Andersen has not slowed property investor AmTrust in its drive to lease space.

With tenant occupancy at 95%, Auckland-based AmTrust has leased 30,000sq m in the year to November including the three floors the Auckland branch of Andersen were to have taken in the old PricewaterhouseCoopers building in Wyndham St.

AmTrust chief executive Peter Wall the top three floors of the 19-level building had been leased to one firm which had naming rights but Mr Wall said he could not yet reveal who had taken the lease.

The company usually makes one major investment a year but Mr Wall said most of the capital had been poured into refurbishments.

"We should be really tidy by mid-2003," Mr Wall said.

Other AmTrust leases to date include Wellington's 12-level Simpson Grierson building, which the law firm vacated in October, leaving 10,000sq m of space to fill. After a $5 million upgrade, a major public company, which Mr Wall would not yet name, and various government departments, will move in by stages early next year. AmTrust has also completed a $4 million upgrade of Christchurch's Triangle Centre, which houses 48 retail outlets.

After facing major lease expiries in 2000 and 2001 from 12-year lease agreements in the late 1980s Mr Wall said AmTrust had kept its head down and focused on leasing and upgrading its properties.

"Back then we were facing two and three-year expiry dates. The average lease term now is five to six years."

AmTrust is suing Andersen in the High Court, claiming Andersen breached an agreement to lease the top two-and-a-half levels of the building. Andersen claims negotiations had "not been taken to completion" after Andersen's merger with Ernst & Young in April and its move to Ernst & Young's Shortland St premises.

AmTrust wants to reclaim costs from the 18-month negotiation period with Andersen.

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