Simon Hartley

Not surprisingly, the 2009 rich-listers have been hard hit by recession, but Central Otago property developer Eamon Cleary remains this region's wealthiest person with $2 billion.

Shares in Auckland International Airport spiked 5% yesterday after the Government announced a review of the Overseas Investment Act which may smooth the way to increased foreign ownership of "strategic" New Zealand assets, such as its ports.

The New Zealand dollar hit a more than nine-month high of US66.3c early yesterday - in part due to a weakening US dollar - before settling to trade in the high US65c range most of yesterday.

Former Dunedin businessman Mike Cates has been adjudged bankrupt in the High Court at Dunedin, joining his former business partner, also made bankrupt in separate proceedings.

Triple-listed Oceana Gold wants to extend its Macraes and Reefton gold mines' lives by three years and has launched a multimillion-dollar capital-raising book build to boost exploration.

Otago and the Yukon Territory in Canada are well-known for their respective gold rushes of the 1860s and late-1890s, but the similar gold-bearing geology in each region has prompted a Canadian exploration company to utilise a variety of expertise from the University of Otago.

Business reporter Simon Hartley looks at the options consumers have for managing credit card payments as the recession grinds on and interest rates remain in the 19%-20% band.

Dunedin businessman Victor Gray - who has been involved in millions of dollars worth of Dunedin apartment developments during the past decade - was adjudged bankrupt in the High Court at Dunedin yesterday over a $20,000 debt to charge card company Diners Club.

Dunedin printer Wickliffe has reached a confidential pay settlement with its 290 employees after they had rejected an initial request to consider taking a 5% pay cut.

Manufacturing across the country received a welcome boost in new orders and production figures for June - with Otago-Southland posting its highest reading in the past seven months.

Capital raising, debt restructuring and management buy-ins all featured as components in the top five companies which headed up the New Zealand stock exchange's 50 top performers, for the quarter to June.

Estranged business partners Ewan Carr of Otago and Rodney Humphries of Auckland have had separate bankruptcy proceedings lodged against them by prominent Dunedin businessmen over historic debts totalling almost $560,000 for farm machinery.

Dunedin City Council-owned electricity contractor Delta Utility Services has again ventured into the property development market, buying 100 sections of the 700-lot Jacks Point development near Queenstown.