Westpac Banking Corp’s New Zealand fund management arm contracted out the management of more than $650 million of its listed New Zealand stocks and property holdings to a new firm started by its employees. BT Funds Management (NZ), which has $4.6 billion of funds under management, will hand over its equity and property portfolios to Salt Funds Management, owned by …

 TrustPower, the utility controlled by Infratil, reported a 6 percent fall in underlying annual earnings as it went faced a tougher environment with dwindling customer numbers and thinner margins. The shares gained. Underlying earnings, which strips out one-off impairment charges and changes in the fair value of assets, fell to $127.3 million, or 40.5 cents per share, in the 12 …

The Serious Fraud Office investigation into failed company Hanover Finance cost the regulator about $1.1 million. The SFO spent about $600,000 on its own staff and overheads and a further $505,111 on advisers during the 32-month investigation, it said in a statement today. The office last week said it won”t lay charges against any of the firm”s directors or owners …