QBE Insurance (International), a unit of Australia’s biggest insurer, has settled its battle with former executive Craig Anderson over a $1.5 million liability the firm feared would arise from underwriting business to the failed Herbert Insurance Group. The Employment Court has signed off on a confidential settlement “which disposes of all the issues in these proceedings” and sealed the file, …

New Zealand shares rose, extending the NZX 50 Index’s gain to a new record, as investors piled into Diligent Board Members Services and rewarded Warehouse Group earnings growth and bigger dividend. The NZX 50 rose 20.54 points, or 0.5 percent, to 4354.02, the highest since the index it was created in 2003. Within the index, 25 shares rose, 15 fell …

Infrastructure investor Infratil is seeking to fill its coffers for new, earlier stage investments through the part-sale of its 50 percent shareholding in Z Energy, the possible part-sale of an Australian windfarm, and the potential to issue a low-interest 10 year bond. The strong potential for a float of between 40 percent and 60 percent of Z was announced as …

New Zealand manufacturing volumes continued to grow in the final three months of 2012, and a rundown in stocks outside food and beverage bodes well for the sector this year as construction gets underway in Canterbury and Auckland. Total manufacturing sales volumes rose a seasonally adjusted 1.5 percent in the three months ended Dec. 31, slowing from a 2.5 percent …

New Zealand property values continued to rise in February, with most of the increase still coming from Auckland and Canterbury. National property values rose 3.2 percent in the three months ended Feb. 28 to $428,692 and have gained 6.3 percent over the past year, according to state valuer Quotable Value. Property values are now 3.2 percent above the last peak …

Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler has an increasing number of moving parts to juggle in his assessment of monetary policy, with the kiwi dollar higher than forecast, a resurgent housing market and the impact of drought on economic output. Wheeler will keep the official cash rate at 2.5 percent when he releases his monetary policy statement on March 14, according …

Billionaire George Soros has installed a director on the board of Guinness Peat Group after the Quantum Strategic Partners fund his firm manages took an 8 percent stake in the investment company last year. GPG said Waldemar Szlezak, a representative of Soros Fund Management, was appointed as a non-executive director this week. “I am pleased to have the expertise and …

Corporate raider Sir Ron Brierley has passed the half-way point in his exit from Guinness Peat Group, the investment firm he founded in the early 1990s, and has raised some $17.73 million in a series of sales since October last year. The Sydney-based septuagenarian sold 5 million shares in GPG at 60 cents apiece for a total of $3 million …

Wellington Drive Technologies, the unprofitable manufacturer of energy efficient motors, has requested a trading halt pending an announcement. The irregularly traded shares fell 8.7 percent, or 1.5 cents, to 14 cents yesterday, valuing the Auckland-based company at $11.3 million. The stock has dropped 30 percent in the past 12 months. The manufacturer has embarked on a turnaround plan which has …

Genesis Energy, the state-owned energy company, has called a meeting of investors in its hybrid bonds to replace the trustee installed by the Financial Markets Authority with the Jim Bolger-chaired Trustees Executors. In September, the FMA appointed Corporate Trust as trustee for the debt for a period of six months after declining to issue a licence to existing trustee Perpetual …