Precinct Properties New Zealand, the property investor rebalancing its portfolio to Auckland, has raised $73.6 million from institutional investors ahead of its retail offer to fund a major development in the country's largest city.

Institutional shareholders elected to take up 98 percent of their entitlements via the one-for-seven offer with shares priced at $1.15, a discount to the last traded share price of $1.225, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. Precinct will open the offer to its retail shareholders on March 2, and it will run to March 18.

The company is looking to raise $174.1 million, which will part-fund three key developments in Auckland's downtown and Wynyard projects, and the upgrade of the Bowen campus in Wellington. The development activity is expected to take four to six years, and the rest of the funding will come from more asset sales and new bank debt.

On Wednesday, Precinct reported net operating income, which adjusts for non-cash items, of $35.3 million in the six months ended Dec. 31, from $32 million. Net profit dropped 20 percent to $31.6 million, owing to a $5.3 million unrealised loss on the value of interest rate swaps.