New Zealand

The Crafar family farms put into receivership three years ago are now legally in the hands of their new Chinese owner, Radio New Zealand reported. The Shanghai Pengxin group had to overcome legal challenges from New Zealand farming and Maori interests but finally took possession of the 16 North Island farms on Friday. Spokesman Cedric Allan says the aim is to lift production on the 13 dairy and three dry stock farms under the management of the state owned farming enterprise LandCorp.

New Zealand’s unemployment rate unexpectedly rose last quarter to a 13-year high, adding to evidence of a faltering recovery and sending the best-performing Group of 10 currency this year plunging, Bloomberg reported. The jobless rate jumped to 7.3 percent from 6.8 percent in the second quarter, Statistics New Zealand said in a report today in Wellington. That’s the highest since the first quarter of 1999 and was more than the 6.7 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Employment fell by 0.4 percent, or 8,000 jobs, from the second quarter, when it dropped 0.1 percent.

Equipment rental company Hirepool has sought clearance by the anti-trust regulator to buy rival Hirequip out of receivership in a bid to get greater exposure to the heavy construction sector as the Christchurch rebuild starts hitting its stride, The National Business Review reported. Hirepool, which is 75% owned by Australian private equity firm Next Capital, has requested the Commerce Commission clear its acquisition, saying the merger will not substantially cut competition as they largely operate in different areas.

Costs associated with the receivership of the failed finance company Bridgecorp have topped $10 million, Radio New Zealand reported. The finance company collapsed in 2007, owing nearly $490 million to 14, 500 investors. The receivers, PricewaterhouseCoopers, are required to file six-monthly updates on the receivership. The latest report says receivers' fees for the past five years have reached $4.166 million, legal costs are $4.92 million, while other professional services total $1.42 million.

The owners of equipment rental company HireQuip have been placed in receivership and the operating business is being prepared for sale, according to KordaMentha, The New Zealand Herald reported. The receivership comes less than a month after HireQuip director Rob Nichols was quoted saying the company could seek a listing on the NZX as earnings recovered. HireQuip's parent shareholding companies Pacific Equipment Solutions, PES Finance and Hire Equipment Group are the entities placed in receivership, KordaMentha's Brendon Gibson said.

A large Russian investment in a Waimate dairy processor has failed with receivers appointed to New Zealand Dairies, Stuff.co.nz reported. Plans to sell the $100 million Waimate dairy factory did not come off leading to the appointment of Colin Gower and Stephen Tubbs of BDO yesterday as receivers. Last month Christchurch company director Richie Smith, who advises the Russian owners, said the factory would keep processing milk as usual.

One of the country's largest housing subdivisions has been bought, just over a year after it plunged into receivership, The New Zealand Herald reported. The 250ha Lakes residential community on the western outskirts of Tauranga - which at one time was forecast to have a value of more than $1 billion once completed - has been bought by local developers Carrus Corporation. The price has not been disclosed.

Former Bridgecorp director Rod Petricevic has been jailed for six and a half years, The New Zealand Herald reported. Petricevic was found guilty earlier this month on 18 charges for misleading investors and of knowingly making false statements that Bridgecorp had never missed a payment of interest or principal. Some of the charges Petricevic was convicted of under the Crimes Act carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail.

Richard Chandler, the New Zealand billionaire and biggest shareholder of Sino-Forest, has hired a team to plan a rescue restructuring of the Chinese timber group after it filed for bankruptcy protection last week, the Financial Times reported. Richard Chandler Corporation, his investment vehicle, said on Monday that it had assembled a group including David Walker, an expert in the Asian forestry sector, to lead its proposal for the restructuring of Sino-Forest. “Sino-Forest faces a range of complex problems,” Mr Walker said.

Royal Bank of Scotland and former directors including ex-chief executive Fred Goodwin and ex-chairman Sir Tom McKillop have been hit with a £2.4 billion ($4.6 billion) legal claim from angry investors in the taxpayer bailed-out bank, The New Zealand Herald reported. RBOS Shareholders Action Group was due to deliver claims letters to the bank and 17 former directors, including the former head of investment banking Johnny Cameron.