Property Talk: Chow brothers look at back door listing

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John and Michael Chow have taken the bull by the horns and decided on a back door listing to grow their property empire. 

The Rich Listers, who sex and property barons, worth about $75 million are listing through a decade-old penny dreadful, RIS Group [NZAX: RIS]. 

The brothers say they are committed to building their property investments in New Zealand at a fast pace and to do that they need to attract capital from local and international sources. Going public with their property portfolio is, they say, a natural step in their expansion plans.

Sally Lindsay takes a look at what this means. 

Other property owner Rich Listers are also making a splash. Murray Turley is selling one of his mid-Canterbury farms, which has a rating valuation of $16 million, while John Butterfield has bought the Smiths City headquarters in central Christchurch for $20 million. Smiths City is an institution in the garden city. 

The Smiths City deal has given Mr Butterfield 50,000m² of Colombo Street property. He already owns nearby South City Shopping Centre. 

Another Cantabrian Hugh Pavletich warns an Auckland property market crash is on the cards. 

He says many countries have found the lending multiple stretch is a far bigger problem than high loan-value ratio lending. 

He cites Ireland, where that country’s reserve bank has just brought in regulations capping lending to 3.5 times annual household income after the country’s worst property bubble cost taxpayers €64 billion.  The Bank of England has capped lending at 4.5 times annual household income. 

Mr Pavletich says he suspects New Zealand’s finance industry is belatedly closely reading the Central Bank of Ireland’s research, so they can better understand what’s in store for them.

And still in Canterbury, the Selwyn District Council has approved $8 million of ratepayer funding to expand Central Plains Water scheme – the country’s biggest irrigation scheme. 

Environment Canterbury chairwoman Dame Margaret Bazley championed the district council’s use of ratepayer money. Chris Hutching looks at the decision. 

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