AGP is partnering with New York-based Stonepeak, which last month received approval from shareholders of publicly traded Arvida Group for a full $1.2 billion acquisition, which is expected to close in the coming weeks.
Mr McDonald said a new joint venture between Freedom and Assets ANZ was planning to develop further new villages.
The 24.9% deal did not require permission from the Overseas Investment Authority as it was below the 25% threshold, which requires a state-owned enterprise permit.
“However, further investment will result in an application to OIO. This is a capital-intensive business. We really want to grow the business. With the support of Assetz ANZ, Freedom will grow and “We are well-positioned to improve the resident experience,” he said.
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The sale of a quarter of the business for $40 million means the company is worth about $160 million, but when asked how much the assets were worth, McDonald said he could not say. .
Property owned by Freedom Lifestyle Village in Ravenswood, Christchurch. Photo / Freedom Lifestyle Village
McDonald said there are about 1,000 people living in the five villages, with an average age of about 70. The village has 750 independent villas, but no apartments or hospital.
Freedom sells occupancy permits to people 50 and older.
When asked who sold the 24.9% stake, McDonald’s said the new shares would be issued through Freedom Group Holdings.
Companies Office records show the company has 29 shareholders, including Freeman Bay’s Bill Smale, who is on the NBR Rich List, and Takapuna, where a number of apartments are also planned. It also includes shareholders in Smail’s Farm, a business and dining district. Smail and Trust hold the largest stake at 12.77%.
Alan Wiltshire of North Shore is also a major shareholder with a 7.33% stake. He is a Managing Director of Wiltshire Property Group, a well-established property investment and development business.
Properties owned by the company include the former Michael Hill Takapuna on the corner of Hurstmere Road and Lake Road. This jewelry store was closed due to the Ram attack.
McDonald’s stock is held by Freedom Group Holdings (candidate), which owns 11.64%.
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“We have a lot of small shareholders. They are our friends and colleagues,” McDonald said.
Freedom Group Holdings’ directors are Tauranga surgeon John Calder, Kerikeri’s Bill McDonald, Waihi Beach’s Alan Morris, Remuera’s Catherine Parsons and Freeman’s Bay’s Jason Smale. They are Jacob (aka Rudy) Van Het Wout of Queenstown and Rene Verhoeven of Tauranga. According to the company secretariat.
In 2021, contractors broke ground on a new lifestyle village along Rotorua’s Pukehangi Road, with homes now complete and occupied.
In 2021, the Herald reported on the 197-home Freedom Village development in Rotorua. The development application is said to be the largest single consent issued in this area in 20 years.
The village is at the Gongotaha end of Pukehangi Road.
Rotorua Lakes Council deputy chief regional development officer Jean-Paul Gaston said freeing up land to enable new development was the council’s top priority.
Sir John Key opened Papamoa Freedom Village in 2014 and, while an MP, said he intended to return once it was completed.
Rudy Van Het Wout and Juliet Yarrell.
Freedom touts its properties as different from many other retirement villages because people retain capital gains.
Juliet Yarrell and her husband Van Het Wout (one of the founders of Freedom Lifestyle Village) were featured in the Bay of Plenty Times in 2016 in an article about couples working together.
They were together for only a few months before they decided to go all-in on their dream of creating a new type of retirement village: Freedom.
Ten years later, after years of hard work, the dream has come true and their relationship and business have flourished, the article said.
Anne Gibson was the Herald’s real estate editor for 24 years, writing books and reporting extensively on real estate at home and abroad.
