Calan puts the crown on its trophy property

Calan tops off its $50 million Ascot Hospital building in Greenlane and comments on listing.

Sunday, August 30th 1998, 12:00AM

Calan Healthcare Properties reached a milestone on Friday when it officially "topped off" its $50 million Ascot Hospital and Clinics building in Greenlane, Auckland.
The facility represents the largest slice of private investment made in the healthcare sector and it is also the largest asset in Calan's portfolio.
Calan owns the building, which will open in April next year, and is leasing the facility to a predominantly doctor-owned company, called The Ascot Hospital and Clinics Ltd, which will use it to run a modern private hospital.

It will have 12 operating theatres, 132 beds, plus an accident and emergency clinic as well as other independently operated medical support services and specialist consulting rooms.
Ascot Hospital chairman Richard Fisher described the building as a "hospital of the millennium," because of its design and facilities.
Likewise Calan Healthcare general manager Chris Donahoe says it is "the trophy property in the trust's portfolio".
The trust has proved popular with financial planners and investors, partly because of its attractive yield. Currently it has more than 5000 investors.
At the moment just $30 million of its portfolio is income generating and new money coming into the fund has been invested in cash and used to fund the construction of the Ascot hospital.
Once the hospital is up and running it is likely to further bolster the trust's income stream.
One of the big questions for unitholders is when will the trust list on the New Zealand Stock Exchange?
Donahoe says while listing is still on the agenda, the actual event will be some way off due to the state of the market.
"We are never going to do it in a negative capital environment," he says.
Listing in the current environment would just add extra, and unnecessary, volatility to the fund.
He says Calan has been successfully able to offer investors liquidity for the past four years through the secondary market, and that will continue.

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