The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a step backwards to the days before the World Trade Organisation when the the US and Europe controlled the global trading system to the detriment of developing economies, says a former director-general of the WTO, Supachai Panitchpakdi of Thailand. In New Zealand for a meeting of the honorary advisers to the Asia-New Zealand Foundation, Supachai told …

New Zealand Post, the state-owned mail delivery service, is wants to sell its Australian Couriers Please unit in its latest move to rejig its ailing business. The Wellington-based SOE has hired 333 Capital for the sale of the Australian courier business, which operates metropolitan delivery across the Tasman. Couriers Please has about 570 couriers and more than 130 staff, NZ …

Motor Trade Finances, the Dunedin-based auto-finance firm, rejected a takeover offer from Heartland New Zealand earlier this year, and is warning its shareholders to be wary of any communication from the bank. The finance company, which has a loan book of some $438 million, has been in talks with Heartland for a considerable period over a potential takeover bid, with …