KEY POINTS:
Rising interest rates may dampen economic growth but will have little effect on Goodman Property Trust's fortunes, its head says.
John Dakin, chief executive of the trust's manager, told the annual meeting in Auckland yesterday that the economy might slow but conservative gearing levels meant the rate rises would have little impact on the trust.
Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard yesterday lifted the official cash rate to 8.25 per cent.
Dakin said the trust's assets stood at $1.2 billion and were well-shielded from the RBNZ reviews.
The trust specialises in owning and managing buildings rented to the industrial sector but Dakin said most customers were logistics businesses, not manufacturers who were feeling the heat from the high dollar.
The meeting was the trust's first using its new name, after the NZX-listed vehicle dropped Macquarie from its title.
Macquarie held 40 per cent of the original entity's manager in Australia and a portion of the ASX-listed Macquarie Goodman Group. But it sold out last year, prompting the name change.
One investor complained about the trust's complicated documents and distributions, saying his payment had been rounded down, a move he described as "extraordinarily mean".
Jim McLay, chairman of the trust's manager, promised the board would look into both issues.
Unit holders approved resolutions which allow the New Zealand trust and its Australian associate to buy and sell properties in related-party transactions without needing special clearance.
Greg Goodman, on the New Zealand trust's board and a member of the Australian-based Goodman family who control the trust's manager, said the meeting had gone well.
Last week, ASX-listed Goodman Property bought 9.4 per cent of ING Industrial Fund for A$261 million ($289 million). Goodman said the group owned and managed property in Australia worth about A$10 billion and his organisation was pleased with the stake in a competitor which had been funded with debt.
