FKP Property, which is planning to become a pure retirement business, has taken a $187.9 million hit in the value of its non-retirement properties in the lead-up to asset sales.
It is the biggest shake-up in the company since its listing about a decade ago, when it changed from being the former Forrester Kurt Properties, based in Brisbane.
The final stages of the overhaul were undertaken by new chief executive Geoff Grady, who said on Friday that after the asset sales and restructure, the group would seek shareholder approval to change its name from FKP Property to Aveo Group.
''The writedowns are a necessary step in executing our strategy. With the gradual recovery of the retirement sector, we are confident about the outlook for our business and are well progressed on delivering our strategy of becoming Australia's leading pure play retirement group,'' Mr Grady said.
The biggest hits were taken in the residential land division, of $107.4 million, and the commercial business of $48.7 million, which related to the Gasworks development at Newstead in Brisbane, undeveloped land at Mackay in Queensland and completed office suites at Brookvale in Sydney.
The likely buyers of the assets range from office-focused trusts to its largest shareholder, Malaysia's Mulpha, which has 26.2 per cent.
Under the scheme, which was launched by the former CEO Peter Brown, all non-retirement assets, including the significant land development pipeline, apartments and commercial assets, would be sold, leaving the business to focus purely on the retirement sector.
FKP has a market-leading retirement business with assets held directly by the company, the separately ASX-listed Forest Place Group, and the wholesale fund managed by FKP, Retirement Villages Group.
Together, these comprise Australia's largest portfolio of retirement assets with 76 retirement villages and 9766 existing units,
Its second largest shareholder is Stockland with 14.9 per cent, which also has first right of refusal over the assets in the event of a direct sale.
FKP also owns about 4500 residential lots, a number of apartment projects as well as large mixed-use schemes, such as the Gasworks project in inner Brisbane and Sydney's Norwest Business Park joint venture.
