Foreign investment in Aotearoa/New Zealand
2020
Overseas Investment Office – Decisions
Commentary and Index prepared by CAFCA.
All spelling of geographic and company names is as supplied by the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) unless otherwise it is clear from the context that the source is from elsewhere. Errors are those of the OIO. Information quoted, unless otherwise noted, comes from the Decision Sheets of the Office. Copies of the Decision Sheets can be seen on the Land Information New Zealand website.
Contents
January 2020 decisions
Development companies fined for failing to get OIO consent; Consent declined for Chinese development at Lake Pukaki; Kiwi Property gets a rubber stamp; Oceania Healthcare gets a rubber stamp for retirement villages; Fletcher Residential makes its first use of its rubber stamp; Neil Construction (Tiong, Malaysia) buys Whenuapai land; Quadrant Private Equity buyout of QMS Media/Mediawork; Drylandcarbon buys farmland for forestry in Kaikoura; Nippon Paper takes over Orora packaging in Aus and NZ; Land buffer for Waste Management’s Dome Valley landfill; Land buffer for Oceana Gold’s noisy mining waste dump at Waihi; A second retrospective consent for Zhang Zhou family; Austrian billionaire buys a second property for forestry, at Wairoa;
February 2020 decisions
Two more Drylandcarbon forests; Hong Kong/Bermuda company buys Ormond Valley Forest, Gisborne; US Costco giant retail club hits NZ; Synlait to buy Dairyworks…; and buys land for water rights next to its Dunsandel plant, Canterbury; Retrospective consent for Albany residential development;
March 2020 decisions
New Forests private equity buys forestry right at Wairakei; China Forestry Group buys RMS FGI and its Remutaka forestry rights; Japanese Sumitomo buys Maungataniwha Forest, Kaitaia; Austrian billionaire buys a third property for forestry; UK family wealth buys a NZ forest; Prospa NZ buys its loans off itself; Synlait Milk buys the Dairyworks business; Australian/Canadian takeover of Abano Healthcare (Lumino the Dentists); Freightways takeover of Big Chill; Rymans buys Canadian-owned land for Christchurch retirement village; Scottish private equity fund buys into Invesco’s Chorus House, Auckland CBD; T&G Global leases more land for apples at Waiohiki, Hawkes Bay…; and another lease at Clive; Americans turn pine forest into second golf links at Mangawhai; Retrospective consent declined for Korean guru’s meditation sites;
April 2020 decisions
Universal Homes (China) gets rubber stamp; Emergent flips Polarcold Stores to US giant Lineage Logistics after one year; Elanco’s purchase of Bayer’s animal health business includes NZ products; AMP Australia increases holding in Wiri prison operation to 70%; Investore buys more commercial property; Augusta Capital’s new share issue for commercial property “post-Covid” Oyster reorganises investment in Tauranga Crossing Shopping Centre; Heinz Wattie leases land for vegies in Hastings;
May 2020 decisions
Centuria Capital gets Augusta Capital properties as Covid bargain; Jadestone Energy gets 69% of Maari oil field from OMV; Oji Fibre buys Waihora Forest, Taupo; Drylandcarbon to plant 650 ha of new forest in Taranaki; Constellation selling off its Nobilo wines to Gallo; Brierley sells interest in America’s Cup facility to Ariadne;
June 2020 decisions
Augusta/Centuria private equity to develop Queenstown Council land; Sun Life takes over InfraRed, including share of Transmission Gully PPP; JP Morgan private equity in industrial property partnership with Stride; Worldline takeover of Ingenico in EU includes NZ payment systems; Corison buys land for third forestry conversion; Fishing quota for West coast partnership; Kinetic/Skybus to make Go Bus e-buses; Mainland/Navis Capital buys another poultry farm; Singaporean buys Otago vineyard;
July 2020 decisions
Minister Sage declines consent for forestry conversion by Ernslaw One (Malaysia); Oceanwood Investments swaps Tasman mill and forests between equity funds; Oji buys more shares in Southland Plantation Forests; NZ Pharmaceutical bile products move from Archer Capital to Advent private equity fund; Central North Island fibre network bought by Aus/Ca/Japanese investor funds; UDC Finance “securitises” your car loan…and is sold to Shinsei Bank, Japan; Fletcher Residential’s second use of rubber stamp Beachlands, Auckland; Kiwi Property’s first use of rubber stamp is somewhere in Auckland; Woolworths leases land for Countdown supermarket in Wiri; Cloudy Bay/LVMH Diageo buys another vineyard; NZ/UK partners to build apartments by Orakei Basin, Auckland;
August 2020 decisions
Microsoft cloud for sensitive NZ data passes Minister’s national interest test; Ministry of Health building bought by tax haven investors; Cloudy Bay/LVMH/Diageo buy another vineyard; Baring takes over as Covid-19 hits Travelex; LOGOS to build logistics centre for Toll in Onehunga, Auckland; UAE capital buys two holiday camps in Waihi Beach and one in Papamoa; Singaporean buys Zindia Timber exports to India; Third use of standing consent by Fletcher Residential; Woolworths uses its first consent in Alexandra, Otago;
Numbers of approved, declined and price deleted Decisions
| Jan 2020 | Feb 2020 | Mar 2020 | Apr 2020 | May 2020 | Jun 2020 | Jul 2020 | Aug 2020 | Sep 2020 | Oct 2020 | Nov 2020 | Dec 2020 | Total 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deletions | 3 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 30 | ||||
| Approvals | 12 | 6 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 75 | ||||
| Declined | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
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