PMG offers investors a piece of Innov8

Unlisted commercial property fund manager PMG is inviting investors to take a slice of Vodafone’s South Island base.

PMG plans to buy the Vodafone

Innov8 building for $58.65 million, and add it to its PMG Direct Office Fund.

Vodafone began a 12-year lease on the building in 2016.

If the transaction goes ahead, it would increase the fund’s portfolio to eight buildings, worth a collective $148.65m, underpinned by income mostly from Government, telcos and professional services.

Chief executive Scott McKenzie said some people might ask why the purchase was going ahead now, but there was no need to wait.

‘‘The Vodafone property is one we have been working on for more than six months, and aligns with our strategy to acquire quality properties.’’

Innov8 was a near-new building, close to key amenities and transport links, in a market where office tenants would increasingly seek quality buildings.

‘‘We do and always have invested for the long term. We are not in the business of trying to pick the top and bottom of economic cycles,’’ McKenzie said.

The offer opened yesterday for minimum investments of 10,000 units at $1.18 a unit, and parcels of

5000 units thereafter.

Christchurch’s Vodafone Innov8 office building has been the South Island headquarters for Vodafone for four years.