NEWS: Rainbow's End sees takeover bid for park control

[jedimaster1227]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/business/7998289/Takeover-bid-for-Rainbows-End

 

Wellington investment holding company Rangatira Limited is making a takeover bid of just under $10 million for Rainbow’s End themepark owner New Zealand Experience.

 

Rangatira has entered a lock-in agreement to buy the 74.86 per cent of New Zealand Experience currently owned by Canadian-based Garlow Management.

 

South Auckland theme park Rainbow’s End saw its net profit rise $1.4m in the year to June as visitor numbers rise 4.4 per cent to 307,000, the most people it had attracted in since 1995.

 

Rangatira has been rebalancing its $150m portfolio recently, following the sale of its investments in Te Kairanga Wines, Tecpak Industries and Dunlop Living last year that netted around $30m in total. In September the company, which has a 75 year history, bought a 15 per cent stake in Auckland software firm Konnect for $3.5m.

 

Chief executive Ian Frame was unable to comment this morning but said recently that the business was looking for riskier investments with high growth opportunities.

 

Around two thirds of Rangatira shares are held by charities and the remainder by individual investors who trade holdings on the Unlisted stock market, where its shares were unchanged at $6 each this morning.

 

Rangatira owns Auckland Packaging Company and the majority stake in specialised pumps manufacturer and designer Precision Dispensing. It also owns half of bacon and processed meat business Hellers, half of engineering maintenance and petrochemical plant cleaner Contract Resources and a 51 per cent stake in Polynesian Spa at Rotorua.

 

New Zealand Experience issued a statement to the NZX this morning saying it understood Rangatira would give formal takeover notice within the next five working days. It had engaged Simmons Corporate Finance and legal advisor Harmos Horton Lusk to assess the offer.

 

Garlow Management, the company that owns the stake in New Zealand Experience that Rangatira is looking to buy, is operated by the trustees of Toronto businessman George Gardiner’s estate. The stockbroker, museum founder, racehorse breeder and philanthropist died in 1997.

 

New Zealand Experience shares were unchanged at 41c a unit at the time of writing.

Edited November 29, 2012 by jedimaster1227

[mattnz]

This could be interesting. Glad to hear their visitor numbers are up and growing.

[jedimaster1227]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/8011109/Rangatira-cashed-up-and-ready-to-invest

 

Wellington investment company Rangatira says it has about $20 million for new investments and is still looking for "good opportunities".

 

Rangatira, which is in the process of buying a majority stake in Auckland theme park Rainbow's End, yesterday posted an after-tax profit of $3m for the September half-year.

 

After a slower first half, the profit was down from $4.9m in the same period last year.

 

Chief executive Ian Frame said the company planned to make more unlisted investments in New Zealand.

 

"We are actively looking to invest in up to two mid-sized companies that have good growth opportunities and require additional capital to take them to the next stage."

 

Rangatira has assets worth more than $150m, and is 51 per cent owned by the JR McKenzie Trust, with other community and charity groups holding another 15 per cent. The balance is in private hands.

 

Its portfolio includes Auckland Packaging Company, bacon business Hellers and Rotorua's Polynesian Spa.

 

Rangatira has progressively reinvested the money from the sale of Tecpak and Dunlop Living last year.

 

In the half-year, Rangatira paid $3.5m for a 15 per cent stake in Konnect Net, and invested $3.8m in Partners Life. The total investment in Partners Life, a fast-growing insurance company, is now $8.3m, for about 9 per cent of the company.

 

Konnect Net's computer systems link insurance companies with insurance agents and healthcare operators to streamline policy applications, management and claims.

 

Despite the lower profit, Rangatira will still pay a fully imputed dividend of 18 cents a share, the same as last year. The dividend will be paid on December 10.

 

Rangatira said the net asset value of its shares was $9.26 at the end of September, compared with $8.77 at the end of March. The shares are listed on the Unlisted share platform and will trade ex-dividend from December 3.

 

Rangatira chairman Murray Gough said the slower half-year reflected the phasing of project work in one of its main investments, Contract Resources. Contract Resources does specialised engineering maintenance, industrial cleaning and other related services for refineries, petrochemical plants and mining processing plants.

 

But the outlook for each of its companies meant Rangatira still expected full-year operating earnings to be up 10 per cent to 20 per cent.

 

This week, Rangatira's $10m bid for 74.86 per cent of NZ Experience, owner of Rainbow's End, was accepted. Rangatira is now required under the Takeovers Code to make a bid for the remaining shares.

[gisco]

I hope this is a good move for the park. They mentioned that they like riskier investments with growth potential. But the new owners want profit and bleed the park dry. Not wanting to invest back into the park reducing current profits.