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Wellington has turned on a fabulous day for the premiere of Sir Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit. Here’s the New Zealand Herald link. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10850547

Fisher & Paykel Appliances Holdings Limited (Fisher & Paykel Appliances) has been delisted from the NZX.  Haier New Zealand Investment Holding Company Ltd (Haier) has reaffirmed its commitment to keeping Fisher & Paykel Appliances Kiwi.  Haier New Zealand Investment Holding Co chair Liang Haishan said Haier recognised Fisher & Paykel Appliances was a unique Kiwi company. “We think a key part of …

As the result of two successful prosecutions by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), two men have been sentenced for separate breaches to the Biosecurity Act after being caught with prohibited plant material. In the first of two cases, Yaping Wang was intercepted on January 12 at Auckland Airport with a number of packets of seeds concealed in his jacket …

The controversial oil and gas discovery technique known as fracking is safe when conducted to best practice standards, says the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Jan Wright, in an interim report However, she will spend the next six months assessing whether New Zealand’s “fragmented” regulatory system is up to scratch and lays out seven recommendations in the meantime relating to …

New Zealand Oil & Gas has agreed to acquire interests in three offshore Taranaki permits from ASX-listed Octanex for US$12.5 million plus a share of seismic costs. The company will pay US$12.5 million for a 12.5 percent interest in PE51906 which holds the Makatu prospect and is expected to be drilled in the second half of next year. Octanex will …

Revenue Minister Peter Dunne has launched two new tax scholarships named after Robin Oliver, a leading light in New Zealand tax policy in recent decades. Dunne said the scholarships will benefit New Zealand and its economy by supporting continued high quality tax policy. The Tax Policy Scholarship Award and the Tax Policy Lecture Visit will jointly be known as the Robin …

Fonterra Cooperative Group priced its units at $5.50 apiece, the top end of the range proposed in a bookbuild, with strong global demand ensuring 42 percent of the fund has been sold to overseas investors. Units in the $525 million Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund are scheduled to begin trading on the NZX at noon on Friday, giving liquidity to the Trading …

By Brierley Penn In part two of our focus on Indonesia, we take a look at the challenges presented to those considering doing business in Indonesia. There’s really no way around it – Indonesia is not known as a country in which it is easy to conduct business. The World Bank ranking Indonesia #130 out of 185 countries would seem …

New Zealand won’t sign up to the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal unless it includes an agreement to progressively abolish tariffs on agricultural products exported to North America, Prime Minister John Key said. With international negotiators for the trade pact due in New Zealand next week for the next round of talks on the TPP, Key also said it would …

By Brierley Penn Red tape, uncertainty and corruption have gone unacknowledged and ignored by high-ranking Indonesian officials until recent times but were highlighted as the greatest challenges to attracting international business to the nation at the recent Indonesia Forum in Auckland. The Indonesian Government has set an objective to rid the country of corruption in 5-1o years which will assist …