Auckland’s 45 year-old maximum security prison at Paremoremo is to get a makeover under a public-private partnership contract that is expected to be worth more than $200 million. Corrections Minister Anne Tolley announced the planned upgrade today, saying the facility needed to be modernised to improve the ability to manage difficult prisoners, provide better mental health care, and to take …

Infrastructure investor Infratil and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund have taken cornerstone stakes in retirement village operator and developer Metlifecare, announcing purchases equivalent to 36.9 percent of the company and taking their joint holdings to 39.8 percent. Infratil took the larger stake, 19.9 percent, while the Super Fund topped up its existing holding by a further 17 percent to 19.9 …

Kirkcaldie & Stains, Wellington’s upscale department store, has abandoned plans to split its retail and property businesses and reported a widening of its annual pre-tax loss. The Wellington-based company’s pre-tax loss more than doubled to $2.38 million in the 12 months ended Aug. 31 from $1.08 million a year earlier, it said in a statement. Still, the company posted a …

Hellaby Holdings, the conglomerate with interests ranging from footwear to oil and gas services, is still hungry for acquisitions after making two new investments this year, and sees future earnings growth in its rejigged portfolio. Chief executive John Williamson told shareholders at today’s annual meeting in Auckland that the company kicked off a reshaping of its investment portfolio in 2013 …

Port of Tauranga, the country’s biggest export port, expects annual earnings to be broadly in line with a year earlier, and has seen a lag in dairy shipments after the false botulism scare in August. The company forecasts annual earnings of between $77 million and $80 million in the 12 months ending June 30 2014, chief executive Mark Cairns told …

Bathurst Resources has finally secured resource consents for its contentious Escarpment coal mine on the West Coast’s Denniston Plateau. The Environment Court today granted consents for the project, ending a projected battle with environmentalists opposing the proposed coal mine, Bathurst said in a statement. The shares rose 1.8 percent to 17.4 cents in trading after the announcement. “We are pleased …

Metlifecare, whose cornerstone shareholder Retirement Villages Group is in the process of selling its stake, sees the upper North Island as its focus for new development opportunities. Managing director Alan Edwards told shareholders at today’s annual meeting in Auckland that the 2014 financial year will be one of consolidation after last year’s merger with Vision Senior Living and RVG’s Private …

Auckland International Airport confirmed its expectation of an underlying profit after tax for the current financial year of between $160 million and $170 million at the annual shareholders’ meeting. The meeting was the last for Joan Withers since joining the board at its NZX listing 16 years ago, three of them spent as chair, to be replaced by Sir Henry …

Sky Network Television, which received a warning from the antitrust regulator for potentially breaching competition law this month, sees annual profit rising as much as 13 percent in the current 2014 financial year, and is preparing to ramp up its foray into mobile and web-based delivery with new products in the pipeline. The Auckland-based pay-TV operator forecasts net profit of …

New Zealand regional banks, which make up about 15 percent of the local market dominated by four large Australian lenders, may struggle to increase revenue in the coming year amid competition from their bigger rivals, Fitch Ratings says in a review of regional financial institutions. The nation’s regional lenders, including Kiwibank, Southland Building Society, Nelson Building Society, Wairarapa Building Society, …