A 4.9-hectare APN News & Media printing and operational site in Penrose (Auckland) has been sold for NZ$25.5 million.
APN News & Media New Zealand finance director Phil Eustace confirmed his company had taken a long-term lease to continue production at the site, which has been acquired through a Bayleys tender by a group of investors led by Auckland’s Trevor Rands.
“It’s an unconditional contract and APN has taken a lease on part of the property,” said Eustace. “We are committed to newspapers and production on the site but not committed to owning land and buildings. It’s a mixture of buildings which are occupied, vacant buildings and bare land. The background to APN exiting is that it’s an opportunity for us to release capital from the property-owning sector and reinvest it back into the media business which is where our focus is.”
Trevor Rands, who is understood to have operated Rands Robinson Realty in Parnell before moving into development and organising private syndications where he manages the property, reportedly said the property was a long-term investment.
The sale entails:
· 3.4 hectares at 48, 50 and 60 Wilkinson Road which houses APN News & Media’s printing facility, subject to a new ten-year triple net lease guaranteed by the parent company, with two five-year rights of renewal, earning NZ$2 million rent per year with built-in rental growth
· 1.1 hectares at 36-42 Wilkinson Road consisting of a mix of older industrial buildings and land next to the printing facility, sold as a development site with vacant possession
· 3551 square metres at 39-49 Wilkinson Road in the form of a development site bounded by Wilkinson Road, the Ellerslie-Panmure Highway and extending towards the Southern Motorway interchange