AMP Capital office vehicle loses its fund manager Kit Georgeos ahead of crucial meeting

Investors in the $8bn AWOF are to vote on whether to hand control to Dexus or property rival Mirvac on July 15.

AMP Capital is handing control of its unlisted property fund to Dexus, or Mirvac, depending on the outcome of an investor meeting. Picture: Steven Saphore

AMP Capital’s unlisted $8bn wholesale office fund has lost its manager weeks ahead of a crucial vote on who – either Dexus or real estate rival Mirvac – will control the vehicle.

Kit Georgeos, who became fund manager of the AMP Capital Wholesale Office Fund in 2019, on Friday told investors she was leaving the company.

Ms Georgeos was previously the deputy fund manager for the GPT Wholesale Office Fund and a banker in the Macquarie real estate team.

AMP in April agreed to sell the management of its local real estate and infrastructure empire to Dexus with about $27.9bn of assets, split between $18.2bn of real estate and $97.bn of infrastructure, slated to switch across.

But big investors in the fund petitioned for a meeting to vote on whether to go with Dexus or change to a new manager, Mirvac.

AMP has warned that if Collimate was not successful in retaining the office fund, this would reduce the final earnout amount payable under the sale deal with Dexus by about 50 per cent. Dexus paid an initial $250m cash and the earnout is up to $300m.

A vote is scheduled for July 15.

An AMP Capital spokesman confirmed that Ms Georgeos had resigned, and would be leaving the company in the next three months.

“Kit has indicated she has not accepted a role elsewhere or joined a competitor and has committed to a seamless transition for investors before enjoying a well-earned break,” he said.

“Both AMP Capital and Dexus have an expansive, experienced team of fund managers and investment professionals to draw from, and we are confident of having a strong replacement for the role.”

The departure of Ms Georgeos may be a blow for Mirvac, which has been working on control of the office fund for more than a year and was short-listed in an earlier process.

There was some expectation within the business that Mirvac had hoped to bring Ms Georgeos across if it took control of AWOF to bolster its funds management experience.

There have been some questions about Mirvac’s track record managing outside capital, with the AWOF trustee writing to investors to clarify the company – which specialises in development – “currently does not have a pooled wholesale funds management business nor any pooled wholesale funds under management”.

Mirvac had also told investors it intended to keep AWOF’s existing team in place.

In its letter earlier this month, AWOF’s trustee noted that there were restrictions on some employees – who glad agreements with AMP Capital, not the fund – that would keep them from being employed by Mirvac for “certain periods of time”.

Both parties have pitched themselves as presenting the best long-term option for the wholesale investors with Mirvac billing itself as a cleanskin manager which can run the fund with fewer conflicts. Dexus has drawn upon its track record as the premier manager of pooled capital with the firepower to deliver unique opportunities to access large property deals.

A Dexus spokeswoman said of Ms Georgeos’ departure: “The integration of the AMP Capital platform is highly complex and there will be changes as we work through this.”

“We are fortunate to have an extensive pipeline of deeply experienced and capable individuals across the Dexus and AMP Capital platform, and we will continue to engage with investors on our integration plans including key personnel appointments,” she said.