Fee drop shows Anzo is listening, says investor

Craig Tyson. Photo / Dean Purcell

An institutional investor in a $1.2 billion NZX-listed property business yesterday claimed victory for his part in forcing new management fees.

Craig Tyson, ING (NZ) equity investment manager, welcomed AMP NZ Office Trust's management pay changes, saying he had been pushing for this since last June.

"The board made a final concession on fee structure with the proposed base fee falling to 0.35 per cent for assets under management over $1.5 billion," Tyson said.

The manager's fees are now 0.65 per cent of assets under management but a new tiered structure is proposed.

Investors meet in Auckland today to vote on that and other reforms.

"We have always argued that the marginal fee for growing assets under management must be low to disincentivise the manager to hoover up assets in order to grow their fees," Tyson said.

"While the proposed structure is not perfect, in our opinion the board of the manager have listened to investors and come up with a bunch of proposals, including the latest change, which are significantly better than the current structure."

Earlier this week, Mint Asset Management's Shane Solly complained about the fee structure.

"It's a missed opportunity to set best practice. The fee structure remains relatively high," he said before the revised fee announcement yesterday.

Craig Stobo, chairman of the trust's manager, said investors would today vote on the new fee structure, whether the trust would become a company, its units convert to shares on NZX and whether independent directors would outnumber management-appointed directors.

* AMP NZ Office Trust investor meeting, 10am today, Langham Hotel, Symonds St, Auckland.