AMP trust restructure positive surprise, says analyst

Big changes at AMP NZ Office Trust got the thumbs-up from Forsyth Barr analyst Jeremy Simpson.

On Friday, the trust said it would become a company, change its rules and align unit-holder and management interests.

Simpson said the proposals were positive.

"We were expecting improvements in the governance structure. However, the move to a company structure and the adoption of an incentive fee in line with best practice in the sector was a positive surprise," he said.

Unit-holder approval will be sought by June 30. Moving to a company structure would bring more independent directors to the boardroom and result in improved transparency, he said.

The board now has only two independent directors out of six but after the changes four independents would go on the board and two directors would be appointed by the manager.

He also approved of fee changes. The trust now pays its manager a base fee of 0.65 per cent on assets under management.

This fee will move to a base fee of 0.5 per cent for the first $1 billion of property, then at 0.45 per cent above that plus an incentive fee based on the trust outperforming the property index, excluding the trust.