Business Desk

Fliway Group, the transport and logistics company, has been priced at $1.20 a share in the bookbuild for its initial public offering, the bottom end of the indicative range, people say.   Existing shareholders Duncan and Gretchen Hawkesby will retain 54 percent of the South Auckland-based company, market participants told BusinessDesk. The couple planned to retain 30 percent to 50 percent of the company after the …

NZX says reaching 200,000 dairy derivative contracts traded across its platform shows the market operator is on track to become the global hub for trading tied to New Zealand’s biggest export commodity. Trading exceeded the trading milestone this month on the NZX Global Dairy Derivatives Market, which was launched in October 2010 to offer risk management for the dairy industry It followed the establishment of Fonterra Cooperative …

By Fiona Rotherham March 16 (BusinessDesk) – Indian billionaire Nandan Nilekani says scale is a problem New Zealand companies need to overcome to crack the growing Indian market. Nilekani has been twice named by Times magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people and is the former chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) which is …

The New Zealand dollar, which has declined 2.5 percent so far this month, may slip further this week with the Federal Reserve expected to signal interest rate rises are not far off. The kiwi may trade between 71.30 US cents and 75.20 cents, according to a BusinessDesk survey of 11 currency traders and strategists. Six expect the currency to decline, while …

Callaghan Innovation, the government backed innovation hub, faced questions this week from opposition MPs about why it had funded companies that subsequently failed and gave grants to unprofitable subsidiaries of wealthy overseas firms, or local firms that moved offshore. Chair Sue Suckling, chief executive Mary Quin and chief financial officer Richard Perry were appearing before the parliament’s education and science select committee …

Callaghan Innovation, the government backed innovation hub, faced questions this week from opposition MPs about why it had funded companies that subsequently failed and gave grants to unprofitable subsidiaries of wealthy overseas firms, or local firms that moved offshore. Chair Sue Suckling, chief executive Mary Quin and chief financial officer Richard Perry were appearing before the parliament’s education and science select committee …

By Paul McBeth March 11 (BusinessDesk) – The New Zealand dollar fell on speculation Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler may signal further delays to interest rate hikes tomorrow and amid concern a threat to contaminate infant formula may hurt orders for the nation’s dairy products. The kiwi dropped to 72.37 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 72.62 cents at 8am …

By Fiona Rotherham   March 11 (BusinessDesk) – Market regulators, the NZX and the Financial Markets Authority, say they’re confident the approach they took to disclosure of the 1080 contamination threat by listed companies involved was appropriate in the “unusual circumstances”, but they will be checking for any suspected market manipulation or insider trading.   Under the NZX Main Board …

By Fiona Rotherham March 11 (BusinessDesk) – Chinese consumer reaction to the threat to contaminate New Zealand infant formula with 1080 poison has been muted so far, but the Taiwanese have been more strident, said Massey University marketing specialist Associate Professor Henry Chung. Chung, who has studied the Chinese market for more than 20 years, is currently in Taiwan and monitoring …

International trading partners first learnt of threats to contaminate New Zealand-manufactured infant milk formula with 1080 poison in February, more than two months after the first letter containing the threat and a sample of contaminated product were received at Federated Farmers’ head office in Wellington, in late November. Prime Minister John Key told a hastily called press conference at the Beehive this …