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China Business Summit 2013: A Wake-Up Call 16 October 2013 Download programme  7.30 – 8.50am Breakfast and Scene-Setting: Big Picture for Summit Co-chair: Fran O’Sullivan Opening address by Hon TIM GROSER, Minister of Trade Michael Barnett, Summit Co-chair and CEO, Auckland Chamber Commerce Liu Feng, Managing Director, Cosco, Chairman, Chinese Chamber of Commerce 9.00 – 10.00am Session 1: Restoring Trust …

Metlifecare, New Zealand’s second-largest listed retirement village operator, is investigating building problems with an Auckland village it acquired as part of a merger with Private Life Care Holdings last year. The Auckland-based company flagged the building issue at its Links Apartments at Hibiscus Coast Village in its prospectus last week for listing on the Australian stock exchange, saying the cost …

Methven, the tapware maker, has confirmed the earnings recovery it flagged in July, posting a 21 percent jump in first-half profit on a pickup in trading in New Zealand and the UK. Profit rose to $2.8 million in the six months ended Sept. 30 from $2.3 million a year earlier, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. It didn’t provide …

Contact Energy shareholders hoping for news of a capital return or increased dividends got slim pickings from the company’s annual meeting in Christchurch, although chief executive Dennis Barnes had good news for customers, saying power prices were unlikely to rise anytime soon. Chairman Grant King told shareholders at last year’s annual meeting that an update on capital returns or dividend …

Japanese financial giant Bank of Tokyo is opposing the debt restructuring deal announced on Oct. 1 to help get state-owned coal miner Solid Energy back on its feet, but may be forced to take the deal anyway, papers lodged with the Companies Office show. The Auckland branch of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ is recorded as the second-largest lender to Solid …

The building boom looming in Christchurch and Auckland in the next three years will inevitably put upward pressure on wages and prices in the construction sector and could spill over into general inflation, driving up interest rates and the kiwi dollar, the Reserve Bank says. The Auckland Housing Accord aims to free up enough land for 39,000 homes in the …

Shares in Xero topped $20 apiece when trading opened today, valuing the cloud-based accounting software developer at $2.38 billion, more than casino and hotel operator SkyCity Entertainment Group and dominant pay-TV firm Sky Network Television. The shares rose 2.5 percent to $20.20, a new intraday record, after the Wellington-based company announced yesterday that it raised $180 million in new capital, …

Fisher Funds Management, which took over Tower Investments earlier this year, says a takeover bid for Abano Healthcare Group undervalues the specialist medical investor. Abano is facing a potential takeover bid by biggest shareholder and former director Peter Hutson, Australian private equity firm Archer Capital and investor James Reeves, valuing the firm at about $131.4 million, though no formal offer …

Infratil, the Wellington-based infrastructure investor, has agreed to sell Manston Airport in the UK for 350,000 British pounds to Stagecoach Group co-founder Ann Gloag and her brother Brian Souter. Infratil agreed to sell the airport for 1 pound plus adjustment for working capital variances and cash injected by Infratil, the company said in a statement. The latest sale comes after …

Christchurch International Airport’s proposed prices over the next two decades are significantly higher than the Commerce Commissions’ view of what’s acceptable, and tougher disclosure requirements have had little impact on promoting price efficiency, the regulator says. The airport is targeting a return of 8.9 percent over the next 20 years, well above the commission’s view of an acceptable return of …