By GEOFF SENESCALL
Auckland entrepreneur Eric Watson is understood to be close to unveiling a $200 million property company.
His private investment vehicle, Cullen, is believed to be in the throes of consolidating its property interests as well as buying a controlling stake in Axis Property Group - the company which recently bought six properties from Trans Tasman for $30 million.
Axis, owned by Greg Wilkinson, has been involved in several projects with Cullen, including the 133-room Sebel Suites hotel on the Auckland waterfront.
Cullen owns mostly mid-sized commercial buildings. It also has some residential assets.
The intention is for the new property company to manage also the properties housing other Cullen interests and to undertake some development opportunities.
Axis already manages properties for a number of Cullen-related investments, such as Pacific Retail Group, Advantage and Eldercare.
Market sources indicated that a sharemarket listing was a possibility at some point. But conditions were not right at the moment.
The source said Cullen was looking to increase the size of the property portfolio to about $500 million.
Watson lining up $200m property firm
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