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Blue Sky Meats has strengthened ties with China, its largest market by volume and value, after two Auckland-based businessmen paid a premium for 11 percent of the unprofitable meat processor. Cook Huang and Qiang Zheng acquired the Blue Sky holding from Danish casings company DAT-Schaub Group for $2.33 million, or $1.80 a share in an off market share transfer, according …

Receivers for Mainzeal Property & Construction and Mainzeal Living recovered some $28.3 million from asset sales and recoveries in their first 12 months and made payments of $26.5 million, including settling outstanding wages and distributing surplus funds to the liquidators. Bank of New Zealand, which was owed $11.3 million as secured creditor of the Mainzeal companies, appointed PwC’s David Bridgman …

Chorus, the telecommunications network operator, has lost a bid to dismiss a Commerce Commission determination setting the price for services on its copper lines. The High Court turned down the Wellington-based company’s attempt to have the regulator’s initial pricing principle set aside, and for the commission to redo the process after its first decision ordered Chorus to slash prices for …

Steel & Tube, which manufactures steel products, plans to buy the local division of India’s Tata Steel Group for $27.5 million. The Lower Hutt-based company plans to buy Tata Steel International Australasia on April 14, acquiring its stainless and engineering steel distribution business and composite steel floor manufacturing, Steel & Tube said in a statement. “Together we are further strengthening our …

The New Zealand dollar held its ground against a declining US dollar ahead of a business confidence survey today which is likely to show continued momentum in the local economy. The kiwi edged up to 86.03 US cents at 8am in Wellington from 85.92 cents at 5pm yesterday. The trade-weighted index was little changed at 80.33 from 80.31 yesterday. The US dollar …

Wall Street slid as investors locked in profits on tech stocks such as Yahoo! and LinkedIn as the latest corporate earnings season is about to start. In afternoon trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.88 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 1.23 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.80 percent. Declines in Pfizer …

New Zealand shares fell as investors sold tech and high-growth companies, taking advantage of recent gains to raise cash for the government’s Genesis Energy sale. Xero slipped to a three month low. A2 Milk Corp and Pacific Edge paced the decline. The NZX 50 Index fell 48.061 points, or 0.9 percent, to 5075.840. Within the index, 29 stocks fell, 12 …

The New Zealand dollar was little changed as investors prepare for minutes to the latest US Federal Reserve policy review and Australian employment figures later in the week. The kiwi traded at 85.93 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 85.81 cents at 8am and 85.97 cents on Friday in New York. The trade-weighted index rose to 80.31 from 80.03 at the New York close. Traders …

Fonterra Cooperative Group, the country’s biggest company, was fined $300,000 for breaches of the Animal Products Act during last year’s whey protein concentrate incident. Judge Peter Hobbs fined Fonterra $60,000 for three separate charges and $120,000 for a fourth charge in the Wellington District Court. The judge took a starting point of $375,000, before mitigating factors including Fonterra’s early guilty …

Genesis Energy shares will list on April 17 at $1.55 a share, at the high end of the value range of $1.35 to $1.65 a share nominated for the sale of up to 49 percent of New Zealand’s largest electricity and gas retailer by customer numbers. The issue price was announced this evening at the Beehive by Finance and State-Owned …