$50m slice of Kiwi Income Property Trust up for sale

Kiwi Income Property Trust owns the Sylvia Park shopping centre.

An 8.6 per cent stake in giant listed landlord and Sylvia Park owner Kiwi Income Property Trust is now in play, as former manager and major investor Commonwealth Bank of Australia sells down its holding.

Kiwi Income yesterday said Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) had appointed Goldman Sachs to sell down its unit holding in the trust by way of placement, likely to be structured as a non-underwritten widely offered bookbuild.

A trading halt in both Kiwi Income Property Trust units and KIPGC mandatory convertible notes was put in place to allow the sell-down to occur in an orderly fashion.

A major institutional investor could buy the 8.6 per cent stake, worth more than $50 million.

The action follows a move last week by investors to approve the purchase of the management contract from CBA.

The business owns real estate around New Zealand valued at $2.1 billion.

On Friday, Kiwi Income issued a statement announcing its internalisation was settled.

"The net internalisation payment of $70.5 million [plus GST where applicable] has been funded through the trust's committed bank debt facilities, which have been increased by $25 million to $875 million," said a joint statement from chief executive Chris Gudgeon and investor relations and communications manager Mathew Chandler.