SAITeysMcMahon begins planning float

SAITeysMcMahon has taken the first steps towards a float next year.

The fund manager’s chief executive officer, David Hinde, said the preparations for listing had started.

“We are working through the corporate governance issues required by the ASX for listing,” he told Money Management.

“It is about corporatising the business for a future public structure.”

The float is scheduled for the second half of next year. The fund manger would not make a move until its 2007 financial results had been released, which would probably be in August, next year.

That would leave a window between September and early November to float, Hinde said.

The float will give the fund manager access to more capital to expand. In the past 12 months SAI has made $1.5 billion in acquisitions, giving it funds under management of about $3 billion.

“The Woolworths sale and leaseback deal involving their distribution centres has now put us centre stage in property funds management,” Hinde said.

“These deals will allow us to build a business for long-term profitability.”

SAI’s flagship product is the Diversified Property Fund, which now has $960 million of funds under management and direct and indirect exposure to 330 properties.

The fund invests in both direct property and other SAI property funds, with 42 per cent exposure to SAI’s Commercial Office Fund.

The diversified fund also has a 7 per cent exposure to SAI’s Childcare Fund, which has added another operator, Perth-based LuLu Child Care, which will bring another 50 properties into the fund.