Chorus, the telecommunications network operator spun out of Telecom, has signed contracts with Visionstream and Downer worth some $1 billion for those firms to build the nation’s ultrafast broadband network, and is still in talks with Transfield Services. The Wellington-based company inked two contracts each worth some $500 million over the next six years and include extra amounts for Downer …

The New Zealand dollar rose back above 85 US cents before figures that are expected to show a pick-up in quarterly inflation and after gains on Wall Street and a modest increase in dairy prices to a new record. The kiwi gained to 84.92 US cents, and earlier reached 85.06 cents, from 84.79 cents at 5pm in Wellington yesterday. The …

Dame Jenny Shipley will stand down as a director of one of China’s most powerful banks at the forth-coming AGM – one of three independent non-executive directors who are retiring by rotation from the board at the shareholders’ annual meeting. The others are  Joseph Yam Chi Kwong  and  Wong Kai-Man. Dame Jenny was first appointed as a CCB director in …