KEY POINTS:
Botany Town Centre is already a sizeable shopping precinct - but it's about to get even bigger.
AMP Property Portfolio has reached agreement on a $368 million deal to buy the 50 per cent interests it does not already own in three Auckland shopping centres, including Botany.
It is also buying the interests in LynnMall and the Manukau Supa Centa from Australian property developer Stockland Group.
The purchase is conditional on Overseas Investment Office approval.
AMP Property Portfolio general manager Stephen Costley said the acquisition was part of a strategy to re-weight the portfolio following the takeover of Capital Properties New Zealand in 2006.
"The acquisition will move the diversified AMP Property Portfolio closer to its long-term sector benchmarks for retail and office properties," he said today.
Proposals to expand Botany Town Centre had been developed and consents to provide for around 5500sq m of additional retail space had been obtained.
It was hoped the last consent, to add 400 car parking spaces, would be received early in the New Year.
The project, providing space for about 30 new retailers, was likely to be completed in two stages finishing in the second quarter of 2009, increasing the size of the centre to around 61,000sq m with 2875 car parks.
- NZPA
