Williams Corp boss explains asset sale
The co-founder of home building giant Williams Corporation says he’s offloading luxury assets partly because his flashy personal brand sends the wrong message at a time when Kiwis are doing it tough.
Matthew Horncastle’s comments come as the company continues to try to offload some of the jewels of its empire, including a $6m yacht and the company’s plush penthouse base.
Now Horncastle has listed his multi-million, three-storey Christchurch home that includes an indoor swimming pool, sauna and fourcar garage.
The sumptuous home also has an elevator and a deluxe games room and has been decorated with “elite”, globally-sourced materials, according to the Bayley’s Real Estate listing.
It’s the latest in a string of personal assets Horncastle has sought to sell.
Last March, he put up for sale a 2019 black McLaren, a white Rolls-Royce and G3 Mercedes – worth in total about $1m – because they were “surplus to requirements”.
Later in the year, Horncastle and Williams Corporation co-founder Blair Chappell put their luxury 26.5m yacht on the market with an asking price of nearly $6m.
Horncastle said it made sense to sell some of his personal assets and reduce interest costs. “These are assets I hardly use at a time when capital is more effective in my business.”
Horncastle also revealed that part of the motivation to get rid of assets was because he no longer wanted his personal brand to be associated with racing cars, private jets and a luxury yacht at a time when Kiwis were doing it tough.
“It’s not an appropriate look … I don’t want to be living like that when my customer is the average Kiwi.”
“I’m a builder in a ute building for Kiwis,” he told Stuff. “God I’ve come a long way in my personal brand. I’m a f ..... legend,” he joked.
Williams Corporation has also been divulging itself of assets. Horncastle confirmed on Friday that the company had abandoned plans to build 350 dwellings over four years in Hornby on a $30million site and had sold a “body” of land to a commercial investor.
The Hornby development was set to be their largest to date.
Horncastle said Williams Corporation would retain enough land to build 33 houses at the site. He said the company had decided to divulge itself of the land because it was already working on a big development in the city and it was “more appropriate” to spend capital on smaller projects at this time than one big one. “I think it’s a sensible decision,” Horncastle said.
Last month the building firm put its plush penthouse office in central Christchurch up for rent. The “stunning”, “architecturally designed” penthouse site features 606sqm of largely open-plan office space, a “huge” north facing deck overlooking Cathedral Square and “high end amenities”, a TradeMe listing says.
Horncastle said the company planned to move its office into one of the 10 buildings he owned, before moving into its “flagship” Manchester Square development which was due to be completed in 1.5 years.
He said the asset purge didn’t mean the company was “folding” but rather the company and its directors were freeing up capital “by choice”.
Williams Corporation has never failed to pay its bills on time in the 13 years it’s been operating and has not built $1.3 billion worth of property, he said.
Investor dividends and redemptions have been met and even though March was a slow month, they still sold 15 houses worth $9m and settled another 15 for $9m.
He revealed they had delivered 503 homes in 2023 and had their highest profit ever with a “respectable” eight figure number, he said.
This year they have already delivered 341 homes and have forward work in progress of 480 homes that would be profitable.
“We are entering into a market where property prices are rising, not declining. We have sufficient cash for this development pipeline and just buy new projects as we deliver projects and sell houses.”
Horncastle said they were in the process of buying another development site in the city, but declined to divulge where the site was.