APN sells Penrose property for $25.5 million

Phil Eustace. Photo / Supplied

APN News & Media got $25.5 million for a 4.9ha Penrose site where its printing works and other operations are located.

Phil Eustace, the company's New Zealand finance director, said the Wilkinson Rd property was sold to Auckland's Trevor Rands and a group of investors.

"It's an unconditional contract with settlement on February 1 and APN has taken a lease on part of the property. We are committed to newspapers and production on the site but not committed to owning land and buildings," Eustace said.

APN would take a long-term lease for the parts of the site it needed, he said.

"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."

Rands said the property was a long-term investment.

The site bordering the Southern Motorway was offered as one lot or in three separate parcels.

The first parcel was 3.4ha at 48, 50 and 60 Wilkinson Rd, subject to a new 10-year triple net lease guaranteed by the parent company with two further rights of renewal of five years each. The annual rent will be $2 million plus GST with built-in rental growth.

The second parcel was 36-42 Wilkinson Rd, 1.1ha adjacent to the printing facility with a mix of older industrial buildings and land, sold with vacant possession.

The third was 39-49 Wilkinson Rd, a 3551sq m plot of land.