SEA holdings launches bid for Trans Tasman

Property investor Trans Tasman Properties (TTP) majority shareholder, Hong Kong-based SEA Holdings NZ, has issued a takeover notice, seeking to buy all shares in TTP it does not already own.

SEA, which owns slightly more than half the shares in TTP, today offered to buy the remaining shares for 51c each.

On Wednesday the shares closed at 46c having ranged between 40c and 50c in the past year.

The offer is conditional upon SEA being able to lift its stake so it had at least 90 per cent of the voting rights in TTP.

TTP said its independent directors would be meeting to consider the takeover notice and, among other matters, the appointment of an independent advisor.

Shareholders were advised to wait for further information from the independent directors, including the receipt of an independent advisor's report, expected within the next three to five weeks.

Last month TTP indicated it had a healthy war chest for future expansion after spinning off its Asian Growth Properties (AGP) division this year.

By then the now Auckland-based TTP was much-diminished after shareholders voted in December to sell 97.5 per cent of AGP via an off-market share buyback, leaving it with just over $100 million of real estate in New Zealand and Australia.

The company returned its headquarters to New Zealand from Singapore last month, in line with its new Australasian focus.

- NZPA