Outstanding loan may have triggered Victoria demise
Outstanding loan may have triggered Victoria demise
An outstanding loan of more than $7 million may have been the flashpoint triggering the demise of the Dunedin-based Victoria Property Fund.
Simon Hartley
Glass Earth raising activity
Glass Earth raising activity
Boutique gold producer and exploration company Glass Earth Gold is beginning to ramp up its Central Otago gold production, after "disappointing" production during its first quarter.
Record profit recorded
Record profit recorded
Bellwether freight forwarder Mainfreight has posted a record $65.75 million annual profit, further underpinned by retention of a $17 million earn-out payment, which could have gone to European acquisition Wim Bosman Group.
Mortgagee sales loom
Mortgagee sales loom
Sections remain for sale in the Oaks Business Park in Richmond near Nelson, the only remaining asset of the failed Victoria Property Fund, but a debt of more than $2.5 million hangs over the properties.
Chatham Rock unfazed by loss
Chatham Rock unfazed by loss
Seabed phosphate explorer Chatham Rock Phosphate has posted an unsurprising $741,000 loss for its full financial year, but its "considerable success" in recent months in raising further equity is available to fund development.
Victoria Property Fund losses mounting; director has no comment
Victoria Property Fund losses mounting; director has no comment
Investor losses are escalating in the failed VictoriaProperty Fund, with 14 people now claiming to have lost a total of more than $850,000 in mainly nest-egg retirement savings.
Coal plans spur more litigation
Coal plans spur more litigation
More litigation has been launched over Bathurst Resources Ltd's plans to mine specialist hard-coking coal from the Denniston plateau above Westport - at the same time as Bathurst signalled another mine application in the area is being prepared.
Builder under administration
Builder under administration
A Queenstown building company - formerly representing a national building franchise - has been placed under administration of Auckland-based BWA Insolvency Ltd.
Victoria fund investors raise concerns
Victoria fund investors raise concerns
Investors in the failed Dunedin-based Victoria Property Fund are raising questions about its performance in recent years and the fee structure applied by manager Britannia Management Ltd since the fund's inception in 2006.
Investors' losses are 'regrettable'
Investors' losses are 'regrettable'
The extent of investor losses in the failed Victoria Property Fund, managed by Dunedin-based Britannia Management Ltd, remains unexplained, but is "regrettable", the fund managers say.
Victoria grew from merger
Victoria grew from merger
The private Dunedin-based Victoria Property Fund grew from investment companies which merged in the late-1990s, investing in mainly commercial properties around the South Island once valued at more than $15 million.
Victoria Property Fund debt inherited
Victoria Property Fund debt inherited
The debt owed to listed Heartland New Zealand by the Dunedin-based managers of the failed Victoria Property Fund was inherited last year from another company.
Return unlikely for property fund investors
Return unlikely for property fund investors
Investors appear to have lost all in what was once a multimillion-dollar Dunedin-based property fund, now enmeshed in a legal wrangle over a failed Nelson subdivision sale and its banker's demands for a major loan repayment.
Work to strengthen oil wharf begins
Work to strengthen oil wharf begins
Work on the first of nine seabed foundations has begun in Port Otago's $3 million strengthening of the oil wharf in the upper harbour in Dunedin, to boost the ageing structure's life span by 25 years.
Otago and Southland service sector top performer
Otago and Southland service sector top performer
Otago and Southland's service sector is outperforming the rest of the country, while at the same time the sister index measuring the provinces' manufacturing is trailing forlornly.
NZMIT investors to get capital back in lots
NZMIT investors to get capital back in lots
Investors in a $53.2 million Dunedin-based mortgage fund will initially receive 45% of their capital back, with the balance paid within a further 90 days, following the end of a 90-day suspension of the redemptions.
Slight fall in food prices last month reflects easing inflationary pressure
Slight fall in food prices last month reflects easing inflationary pressure
Food prices edged slightly lower during April, with grocery items largely unchanged over the past year, reflecting a benign inflationary environment.
Dairy cows increase to 6.17m
Dairy cows increase to 6.17m
National dairy cow numbers have surpassed six million, with Otago's herd increasing 17% by 46,000 cows to 308,000 last year.
No new housing bubble
No new housing bubble
"Significant" household mortgage debt is likely to dampen any repeat of the six-year housing bubble in New Zealand which burst in 2007.
Manufacturing significantly behind
Manufacturing significantly behind
Otago and Southland manufacturing is in a continued slump, lagging significantly behind New Zealand's other three regions.