Global Yellow Pages buys second shopping mall in Auckland

GLOBAL Yellow Pages (GYP) continues its diversification into property investments, buying its second shopping centre in Auckland, New Zealand.

On Tuesday, the Singapore logistics group said that it has agreed to buy Hunters Plaza Shopping Centre in Auckland from Talavera Retail (Papatoetoe) for a net price of NZ$45.60 million (S$42.24 million). The group's first acquisition was Pakuranga Plaza in May last year.

The latest acquisition boasts of a total area of 2.8817 hectares, and comprises retail space with a gross lettable area of 16,290 square metres, occupied by 47 tenants including Countdown, Kmart, McDonald's and ASB Bank.

GYP said that it plans to "increase the scale of the group's shopping centre management business in New Zealand" to broaden its revenue stream and to ensure long-term growth.

It added that the proposed purchase is expected to be income accretive and generate profits for the group.

Based on Talavera's financial results for the financial year ended June 30, 2015, the total book value of the property is NZ$38.5 million.

According to the pro forma income statements, the property made a net profit of S$1.81 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015, down from S$1.94 million in FY2015 and S$2.23 million in FY2013. Revenue was S$5.49 million in FY2015, S$5.56 million in FY2014 and about S$6 million in FY2013.