AFTER crunching the numbers, MFS Diversified Group has flick off its retirement village portfolio, which has been plagued in bad publicity lately and shares in Village Life to a Gold Coast property company.
At the same time, the MFS Living and Leisure Group made a $247 million takeover bid for
Yesterday, MFT said the retirement village sale will not affect the new 25 year management agreement signed with SCV Group last week, after the group dumped Village Life.
MFT said it had been working on this sale of the retirement village portfolio for a number of months, but has had to defer the transaction to restructure management arrangements following Village Life’s announcement on February 27, 2007 that it intended to terminate the leases to 500 elderly residents at 10 villages in Ballarat, Bathurst, Dubbo, Launceston, Mandurah, Mildura, Shepparton, North Tamworth, Wagga Wagga and Warrnambool.
MFT said SCV has advised that is does not intend to terminate a resident’s right to occupy without first providing 12 months notice, other than for breach.
Meanwhile, another MFS entity, MPY is continuing to consolidate its position as one of
MPY’s $247 million offer for THL has the support of the THL Board, in the absence of a superior offer and subject to an independent expert report.
THL is a leading owner and operator of NZ tourism and leisure attractions. MPY is a worldwide diversified leisure business owner and operator with attractions in
Under the terms of the offer, MPY will offer $2.50 per share for all of THL’s 98,180,723 shares – the offer represents a 29% premium to the volume weighted average price for THL for the last five trading days prior to the offer.
The transaction is subject to approval by the New Zealand Overseas Investment Office and to 90% THL shareholder acceptance.
MPY’s chief executive Marshall Vann said the transaction would expand the range of MPY attractions and create a substantial combined distribution network, increasing marketing opportunities.
Vann also said the proposed transaction would diversify MPY’s earnings across a wider range of assets, countries and tourism seasons.
“The peak season for THL is the southern hemisphere summer, while for the majority of MPY’s assets it is the southern hemisphere winter. Our earnings base will be diversified across tourist seasons, countries and attractions, providing more balanced future distributions over a year,” he added.
Recently, the group acquired the rights to develop and operate tree-top walks through its purchase of the Otway Fly tree-top walk in
Australian Property Journal
