Countdown sliced for sale

Tauranga's newest supermarket is on the market for $15.56 million in a deal which offers investors a $50,000 stake in the property.
A proportionate ownership scheme is being set up to buy the Fraser Cove Shopping Centre's Countdown Supermarket.
It is the biggest of five properties in the shopping centre currently being offered to property investors
Augusta Funds Management is establishing a scheme to buy the supermarket off the developer of Fraser Cove, New Zealand Retail Property Group.
Some of the purchase price will come from selling 183 individual titles in the supermarket for $50,000 each.
There are two 15-year leases over the property to General Distributors, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Progressive Enterprises.
Mark Francis, of Augusta Funds Management, said the scheme was being structured in the same way as previous successful syndications in which investors purchased a proportion of the title in the property's land and buildings. Subscribers could apply for more than one title.
Kevin Wehipeihana, of Bayleys Tauranga, was marketing the units which offer an initial annual return on investment of 9 per cent.
The Fraser Cove supermarket was one of the largest Countdowns in New Zealand, with a net lettable area of 5112sq m. It sits on 5767sq m of freehold land.
The 15-year leases commenced in March, 2009 with three further rights of renewal of six years each to a final expiry of 2042.
Mr Francis said the acquisition of the supermarket would be funded by a conservative non-recourse prime bank debt facility equating to about 45 per cent of the purchase price. The balance was by way of investors' equity.
Augusta will manage the Countdown property on behalf of investors while NZ Retail Property Group will continue to mange the overall centre which occupies 9.1ha.
Traffic flows into the shopping centre have increased by a quarter to an average of 44,000 vehicles a week since Countdown opened. Mr Francis said one of the attractions of supermarket properties was that they offered the longest leases currently available in the market .
Meanwhile, three freehold titles and a freehold unit title in Fraser Cove are being marketed by Colliers International. The properties are leased to Number 1 Shoe Warehouse, North Beach Stores, Godfreys and Contours Gym. The auction takes places on August 24 at Tauranga's Sebel Hotel.
Colliers' Tauranga office director Simon Clark said the chance to directly own property in an institutional-grade retail centre under management was unprecedented in New Zealand.
"Participation in real estate holdings of this quality is usually only available indirectly through investment in property trusts," he said.
The latest offering follows seven first-stage unit sales in Fraser Cove.
On July 14, Colliers sold the unit occupied by United Video for $1.41 million plus GST.
The eight-year lease returning $100,000 a year equated to a 7.1 per cent return.
The same auction saw the Liquor Store unit sell for $777,000 plus GST. It has a nine-year lease returning $57,000 a year - a return of 7.3 per cent.
"Fraser Cove is doing extremely well," Mr Clark said.