New man at helm of Calan

By Christine Nikiel

Friday 13th June 2003

Change is in the air for Calan Healthcare Properties Trust.

The company will have a new chief executive as of July 1, a new office, and in an effort to reduce related party transactions, will outsource all its acquisition and development functions.

CHPT chief operating officer Miles Wentworth said the trust had built up in-house skills but had been "castigated" by shareholders for the level of related- party payments created.

Historically, CHPT bought development land, shaped up a project, leased it and built it with long-term ownership in mind, Mr Wentworth said.

The changes would see CHPT buying in services on a variable cost basis when required.

Mr Wentworth said there would be an initial 12-month commitment for those services so the trust could complete current projects.

"It will be a more efficient cost structure because we'll only be incurring cost when we have a project to work on," Mr Wentworth said.

The level of management charges had been managed down over the past couple of years and the changes would see a further substantial reduction, he said.

Mr Wentworth will replace chief executive officer Martin Lyttelton, who has headed CHPT since its inception in 1994 and saw the trust through its listing on the NZSE. He will remain a director.

Meanwhile, the trust has downgraded its operating surplus 10% for the year ending 30 June to $9.4 million, as forecast earlier this year.

Mr Wentworth said the downgrade was due to property sales so the trust could fund its large Australian project, the $56 million Epworth Eastern private in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. CHPT's new offices are in the Phillips Fox Tower on Auckland's Queen St.

Comments from our readers

No comments yet