Latest news with #NationalBusinessReview
NZ Herald
24-06-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Foodstuffs expands with $380m in projects, new North Shore Pak'nSave planned
New Zealand's biggest supermarket business has embarked on an Auckland and Christchurch expansion, via separate southern and northern co-ops. How much may be spent fixing or rebuilding the fire-damaged New World Victoria Park is not yet known but experts said anything from $20m to $50m could be needed if a full rebuild was undertaken, taking the spending to well above $300m. The South Island's biggest supermarket, the vast new Pak'nSave Rolleston, is due to open on October 14. Photo / George Heard Foodstuffs, which sells food and drink under the Pak'nSave, New World, Four Square, Gilmours and Liquorland brands, has a big programme for new and upgraded stores and distribution centres. Why? More customers, spending more. We are staying home to cook. We're not out as much as we were because of the economic downturn and some shopper habits have been permanently changed by Covid. A rare look inside the huge new Pak'nSave Rolleston this month. Photo / George Heard For example, New Zealanders are buying more frozen goods and more prepared meals, according to Kris Lancaster, Foodstuffs South Island's supply chain general manager. And he would know: he's in charge of the $28m development of the new frozen distribution centre at Hornby, a building to be chilled to -20C and which is due to open shortly. Foodstuffs South Island's new $28m automated freezer distribution centre. Photo / George Heard Foodstuffs North Island and Foodstuffs South Island, in their $380m-plus expansion and upgrade programme, have: Sought consent from Auckland Council for the $100m, 6000sq m Pak'nSave Takapuna on a reclaimed greenfields site, 6 Fred Thomas Drive opposite the Lake House. Application lodged last year; Developed and opened in February the new $100m Pak'nSave Highland Park; Developed the new $73m New World Pt Chevalier, set to open this September; Bought Woolworths Te Atatū to upgrade to New World Te Atatū; Developed and are opening the $40m+ Pak'nSave Rolleston near Christchurch this October; Developed the new $28m frozen distribution centre at Hornby, Christchurch, set to open on August 21; Refurbished and expanded the flood-hit New World Mt Albert for $6m; Opened the New Four Square Ōpunaki near New Plymouth in April, costing about $6m; Opened the Four Square Waipawa in Hawke's Bay last November, costing about $5m; Opened the Four Square Putāruru last November, costing about $5m; Opened the New World The Stands at Pāpāmoa on November 5; And developed the Gilmours Hawkes Bay, which was only a delivery service. Last month, it opened as a wholesale cash-and-carry store for customers in a $12.6m upgrade. A vast new Pak'nSave Takapuna could have a terrible effect on Quintin Proctor's highly profitable Pak'nSave Wairau Road. Proctor is on the National Business Review's rich list and bought that store aged 38. A 6000sq m Pak'nSave store, costing possibly $100m, is planned at 6 Fred Thomas Drive, Takapuna. Pak'nSave owners can only have one store, so he can't protect his prized position via buying that new store, if it is built. Planners Bentley and Co submitted an application for the Pak'nSave Takapuna to be built on a floodplain, with overland flow paths. The plan was to raise the ground levels for flooding mitigation. The mostly flat site was once part of the Barrys Pt landfill, which closed in the 1970s and is near the on-ramp to the motorway. Flood-damaged food inside the Pak'nSave Wairau Road after the devastating Auckland floods of January 2023. In January 2023, Porana Rd, where Proctor's store is, was filled with water. Fred Thomas Drive was also closed because of flooding. Last July, the Herald listed eight new and replacement supermarkets for Auckland, Tauranga and Havelock North. Quintin Proctor was 38 when he bought the Pak'nSave Wairau Park, one of the country's largest supermarkets. Since then, Property Insider has visited Christchurch and seen the expansion there, viewing the distribution centre at Hornby and the new, nearly finished Pak'nSave at Rolleston. $18.66m Tauranga sale Simon Clark, Colliers managing director in Tauranga, has announced the sale of 262-266 Cameron Rd for $18.66m. The 4900sq m freehold retail property in the central city has four retailers: Noel Leeming, Chemist Warehouse, Animates and Elite Fitness. Clark congratulated Classic Collectives and the syndicate of investors who bought it. A commercial site in Tauranga that houses Noel Leeming, Animates, Chemist Warehouse and Elite Fitness has been sold for $18.6m. The property is a short walk from the CBD and home to four national tenants on long-term leases. That will give guaranteed rental growth and excellent exposure, he said. Clark worked with Colliers colleagues Rob Schoeser, Peter Herdson and Blair Peterken on the sale. Classic Collectives says it is a joint-venture company established with house-building business Classic Group. Deals at three Metlifecare sites Metlifecare's expansion is continuing, although some parts of its growth were only noted latterly. Two purchases and one sale were approved in the last three years but not announced till the end of May. The Overseas Investment Office (OIO) last month announced approved transactions for 2023 and 2024. A Metlifecare spokeswoman said the OIO must publish decision or notification summaries on its website but only announced the three new deals when it reviewed its records. Metlifecare CEO Earl Gasparich says the third-largest retirement village company has undergone a significant transformation behind closed doors over the past four years. The Springlands Lifestyle Village in Blenheim is an established village. A property at 42 Lakings Rd was bought to extend the village by building 24 new independent units. Construction has taken place over the past two years and is due for completion shortly, the spokeswoman said. A site in Hamilton's Rototuna at 135 Horsham Downs Rd was purchased to be developed. Construction of the first 29 villas is due to start in the next few months. This new village will have 72 independent living units, an aged care home and a communal amenity building. Stage one of the village is scheduled for completion by mid-2026. In the third deal, Metlifecare sold a property at 2-6 Emmett St, Shirley, Christchurch. This is an adjacent section to The Village Palms, an established village. 'We have recently entered into an agreement to sell the property,' the spokeswoman said. 'Settlement is scheduled for July.' Marutūahu-Ockham opens Kōanga Kōanga, the build-to-rent apartment block, opened in June in Waterview. The development is at 2 Oakley Ave, Auckland. Photo / Ockham The five-iwi Marutūahu collective, along with developers Ockham Residential, this month opened the 36-unit build-to-rent apartments, Kōanga. The bright yellow block is at 2 Oakley Ave, Waterview, behind the stylish, red-brick Kōkihi, which is above the Waterview motorway tunnels. The opening of Ockham development's new apartment block Kōkihi in Waterview, Auckland. Photo / Alex Burton Kōkihi at Waterview by a Māori/Pākehā joint venture. Photo / Alex Burton Ben Gibbons, Ockham's chief operating officer, said: 'The Ockham and Marutūahu partnership is having a profound impact on this wider area with beautiful and considered intensification, with Kōkihi and Aroha in such close proximity, and the first stage at Carrington Road, just over the creek, nearing completion.' Kōanga, the rental apartments, at 2 Oakley Ave, Waterview, Auckland. This project was opened in June. Photo / Ockham He was referring to blocks in Waterview and Avondale. The Kōanga build-to-rent apartments, developed at 2 Oakley Ave, Waterview, Auckland. The project was opened in June. Photo / Ockham The now-completed Ockham buildings are: The Ockham Building, 25 apartments, Kingsland Wilkinson House (see below) The Wamaka Buildings, Wilkinson Rd, Ellerslie, 18 apartments The Isaac, 75 apartments, Grey Lynn The Turing, 27 apartments, Grey Lynn Station R, 37 apartments, Mt Eden Hypatia, 61 apartments, Newmarket Daisy, 33 apartments, Mt Eden Bernoulli Gardens, 120 apartments, Hobsonville Set Buildings, 72 apartments, Avondale Tuatahi, 119 apartments, Mt Albert Modal, 32 apartments, Mt Albert Kōkihi, 95 apartments, Waterview The Nix, 32 apartments, Grey Lynn Koa Flats, 14 apartments, Meadowbank Aroha, 117 units, Avondale Manaaki, 210 units, Onehunga; Kōanga, 36 build-to-rent units, Waterview. Last month, people were invited to see inside Toi, the first, almost-completed apartment building at the new multi-billion dollar Maungārongo village in Ōwairaka Mt Albert. Toi, the new apartment building in Ōwairaka Mt Albert by Marutūāhu-Ockham, as at late February, 2025. Photo / Ockham Residential Marutūāhu-Ockham has got the new 65-unit Toi block up but not yet completed at Carrington, on ex-Unitec land. That is part of a wider scheme to build around 40 new apartment blocks with 3000 units in the next two decades. The new Toi apartment block in Ōwairaka Mt Albert by Marutūāhu-Ockham is nearing completion. Photo / Ockham Residential Toi is due to be finished later this year. But sales have been slow. By May, only a third of the units in the six-level block had been sold, even though Toi is due to be finished soon. 'We are 34% sold across this project, with a flurry of new interest this year,' an Ockham saleswoman said of Toi. 'We are looking forward to Q4, when the building is anticipated to be complete and we can hand over keys to the excited purchasers.' On this month's opening of Kōanga, Ockham said: 'The fifth Marutūāhu-Ockham development and the partnership's first build-to-rent project – it was a special day for us and for Waterview.' Anne Gibson has been the Herald's property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
Scoop
17-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
New Zealand Rich List Exceeds $100 Billion Amid Cost-Of-Living Crisis
New Zealand's Rich List, compiled annually by the National Business Review (NBR), boasted last week that the country's wealthiest are now collectively worth more than $NZ100 billion. The figure increased from $95.55 billion in 2024, despite a brutal cost-of-living crisis and two recessions in the past 18 months. The nation of just 5.3 million people now has 18 billionaires, up from 16 last year. A dozen newcomers, with $4.3 billion, are among 119 individuals and families profiled by the NBR, who altogether have a total of $102.1 billion—equal to more than 40 percent of the country's annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Like similar reports posted internationally, the NZ list points to soaring wealth among a tiny privileged layer, even amid a gathering global economic crisis. Nine years ago the 2016 Rich List's wealth was just under $60 billion, rising to $72.6 billion two years ago. Commenting on the rapid increase in the concentration of wealth, Bryce Edwards, director of the Integrity Institute, noted: 'We are witnessing inequality grow towards heights approaching those of the early 20th century.' He described it as 'a roadmap of oligarchic power in New Zealand, complete with policy wish lists, political connections, and breathtaking displays of luxury that would make a Gilded Age robber baron blush.' New Zealand is already an extremely unequal society. According to Statistics NZ's Household Economic Survey in 2021, the richest 5 percent of individuals owned 43.1 percent of the country's wealth, while the bottom 50 percent held just 2.1 percent. Brothers Nick and Mat Mowbray, who with sister Anna Mowbray, founded Zuru Toys in 2003, topped the Rich List with $20 billion. The pair have been outspoken about their ambitions to be 'the next Apple, Google, Tesla' with a target of $10 billion in revenue within five years. Former list leader Graeme Hart is second, with an estimated net worth of $12.1 billion. Hart built his global packaging empire following his purchase of the state-owned Government Printing Office, for a vastly undervalued $23 million, during the 1984–90 Lange Labour government's public asset fire sale. Others to feature were prominent filmmaker Peter Jackson and his wife Fran Walsh, at fifth richest with a net worth of $2.6 billion. This year the NBR also launched a Women's Rich List, headed by Anna Mowbray and Lucy Liu, co-founders of online payments company Airwallex. Liu's company was valued at more than $10 billion in a capital raise in May. The publication profiled 14 women, all of them estimated to be worth between $20 and $100 million. The celebration of a handful of super-rich women comes after the right-wing coalition government last month passed the Equal Pay Amendment Act, designed to make it almost impossible for workers in female-dominated professions to claim that they are underpaid because of gender-based inequity. The primary source of the Rich Listers' fortunes is not the production of socially necessary goods and services. Their vast wealth derives almost entirely from parasitic activities such as financial investment and property speculation. Viaduct Harbour Holdings, owned by the Gibbs, Wyborn, Farmer and Green families—all of whom regularly appear on the Rich List—leases out areas of the expensive Auckland harbour waterfront to the hospitality, sports and accommodation sectors. The Gibbons, Guntons, Carters, and Wallaces have all built their fortunes on property development. A 2023 Inland Revenue Department (IRD) investigation into the wealth of the country's 311 richest individuals found that only 7 percent of their income is in a form subject to income tax. The remaining 93 percent comes from returns on investment, including financial assets and capital gains—all of which is either not taxed, or taxed at a lower rate than incomes. This privileged layer paid tax on their earnings at a rate of just 8.9 percent—less than half the 20 percent rate paid by someone on the average wage. Well-off New Zealanders are paying less tax than their peers in nine similar OECD nations, including Australia, Canada, the US, the UK, and five European countries, according to a Victoria University of Wellington study commissioned by Tax Justice Aotearoa last year. In 2024, New Zealand and Belgium were the only two OECD countries not to have a capital gains tax—though Belgium had other wealth taxes, which New Zealand does not. None of this prevents the wealthy elite from endlessly agitating for cutting corporate taxes, privatising public services, slashing welfare and cutting government 'bureaucracy,' all while seeking incentives for private sector 'risk takers.' The recent King's Birthday Honours awards celebrated former National Party finance minister Ruth Richardson, appointing her as a Companion of the NZ Order of Merit. Richardson is reviled in the working class for her infamous 1991 'Mother of all Budgets' which savagely cut welfare and thrust thousands of beneficiaries into poverty, imposing conditions of misery that still exist. The main opposition Labour Party meanwhile has consistently rejected any significant increase in tax on wealth. Despite campaigning in the 2017 election for a modest capital gains tax, in 2019 Labour Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ruled it out. Her stance was endorsed by current leader Chris Hipkins. The Labour Party-Greens government from 2017-2023, like others throughout the world, exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to engineer a huge transfer of wealth to the ultra-rich. Property values and corporate and bank profits soared due to millions in subsidies, bailouts and tax concessions, and the Reserve Bank's quantitative easing and ultra-low interest rates. While the country has since had near back-to-back recessions, the impact has fallen entirely on the working class. The NZX50 index increased by 1,500 points or 12.74 percent during 2024, its best performance since 2020. The Reserve Bank's official cash rate cut from 5.25 to 4.75 percent last October gave the share market, dominated by investments in utilities, infrastructure and real estate, a strong boost in the final quarter of 2024. Political connections play a critical role in maintaining and boosting the wealth of the richest at the expense of ordinary people. Last year the National Party-led government delivered a massive tax cut for landlords, estimated to have cost $NZ2.9 billion, falsely claiming this would lead to more affordable rents. At the 2023 election, Rich Listers were among the most generous donors to the coalition parties, National, NZ First and ACT. Nick Mowbray gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to both National and the far-right ACT Party. Graeme Hart donated $700,000 to the right-wing parties over two years—$400k to National, $200k to ACT and $100k to NZ First. The rich are not shy about flaunting their wealth. Along with mansions and overseas apartments, several, including Peter Jackson, own private jets. Hart runs a multi-million dollar, 102-metre superyacht. A bid by Anna Mowbray and her husband, rugby player Ali Williams, to put a helipad on their property in the exclusive Auckland suburb of Westmere currently faces strong opposition from nearby residents and community groups. Speaking for the entire ruling class, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon gushed over the NBR's report: 'Isn't it fantastic that we have got people with ambition, aspiration and positivity, and we should be celebrating success.' But under Luxon's government, there is an escalating social disaster. Tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs and Radio NZ reported on June 9 that the net worth of all households declined by $4.185 billion in 2024. Already in 2023, 36.1 percent of households were scraping by on income that was either 'not enough' or 'only just' enough, according to Statistics NZ. In 2024, the Treasury estimated that nearly one-in-five children, 17.7 percent, were living in poverty. The New Zealand Food Network estimated this year that 500,000 people, a tenth of the population, is regularly dependent on food parcels. 16 June 2025
NZ Herald
11-06-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
NBR Rich List reignites wealth tax debate as Act's Karen Chhour squares off against Chlöe Swarbrick
The wealth tax debate has been reignited the same week the National Business Review released its annual Rich List, a celebration of New Zealand's wealthiest. Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick and Act Minister Karen Chhour were on Herald NOW this morning to discuss taxing the rich. Swarbrick said it was a
NZ Autocar
10-06-2025
- Automotive
- NZ Autocar
Automotive families still feature in latest NBR rich list
Prominent New Zealand families with ties to dealerships and the automotive industry have once again featured in the National Business Review's 2025 Rich List, according to an Autotalk report. The Todd family came in fourth overall with an estimated net worth of $3.5b. Although the family sold its Todd Motors business to Mitsubishi decades ago, its diversified portfolio now spans minerals, energy, property, and healthcare. The Fukutaka family has played a key role in New Zealand's EV sector by providing early backing for Drive Electric. It remains in eighth position with a net worth of $1.6b. Former Caterpillar dealership owners, the Christchurch-based Gough family, are 41st on the list with an estimated net worth of $550m. The Giltrap family, synonymous with prestige automotive retail in New Zealand, now sits at 64th on the list. Their holdings are valued at $400m, down from $480m last year and a ranking of 41st. The Maber family behind the Power Farming Group has grown into a multinational agricultural machinery business. It holds spot number 73rd with an estimated net worth of $350m, up slightly from $340m last year. Outside of the automotive sector, and at the top of the 2025 NBR rich list are Zuru founders, Nick and Mat Mowbray. They retain their title as New Zealand's richest individuals with an estimated wealth of $20 billion, followed by packaging magnate Graeme Hart at $12.1 billion. The NBR Rich List for 2025 includes 119 individuals and families with a combined wealth of $102.1b, up from $95.55b last year. Two women have made the rich list this year for the first time since 2019. NBR Rich List editor, Hamish McNicol, commented 'The country's Rich Listers together employ thousands of people and generate billions of dollars of economic activity.'
1News
09-06-2025
- Business
- 1News
How do average New Zealanders compare with the Rich List?
New Zealand's richest people might be getting wealthier, but the same can not be said for the rest of us. The National Business Review released its annual rich list this week, which showed the country's wealthiest people are collectively worth more than $100 billion, up from $95.55 billion last year. But, over 2024, the net worth of all households declined by $4.185 billion. Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan said average household wealth had fallen since the end of 2021, which was unsurprising given that housing made up about half of household assets. House prices remain well below their 2021 peak. ADVERTISEMENT Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan (Source: He said the super rich would have a smaller proportion of their wealth in property. "If you look at the numbers during 2024, aggregate (gross) financial assets went up 1 percent, while aggregate housing and land value went down 0.8 percent. Or since the end of 2021, aggregate financial assets went up 7.5 percent, while aggregate housing and land value went down 8.6 percent. So the more of your money during that time you've got in financial assets, and the less in housing, the better you will have done. "Of course, the portfolios of the super-rich are probably not going to be as simple as financial vs property assets - often they will have a higher-than-average concentration of their assets in companies that they directly or indirectly operate and/or control. This exposure or concentration doesn't mean that they are immune to market fluctuations, but it potentially provides them with a measure of control not available to retail investors, whose best strategy to minimise their risk is to have a diversified portfolio." He calculated the average household net wealth was $1.2 million but said that average was pulled up "massively" by the wealthiest households. New data is due from Stats NZ in August but in 2021, the median wealth was $397,000. Those aged 25 to 34 had median net worth of $34,000 and those aged 35 to 44 $117,000. Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub agreed financial wealth had increased — boosted by growing KiwiSaver balances — but housing wealth had dropped and debt had increased, leading to lower net worth overall. "It's not so much that nothing has improved because financial markets have actually created a lot of wealth, it's our highly leveraged bet on property that's held us back." ADVERTISEMENT Economist Shamubeel Eaqub told Breakfast New Zealand will need to have some "tough conversations" to the "fundamentally broken" way the country funds infrastructure projects. (Source: 1News) He said the richest people in the country would probably have made more of their money from businesses. "A lot of them will have ultra-successful businesses, so it's a big bet on some things and then once you've got wealth it's often professionally managed." But he said more New Zealanders now had professionally managed money than ever before with KiwiSaver and other managed funds. "So there's a glimmer of good news in there, but I think that's kind of largely offset in the last few years at least by what's been happening with house prices and continued borrowing." More KiwiSaver members would now be reaching a stage where their returns were going to supercharge their balances, he said, rather than growth relying largely on contributions. "Once you've got enough savings then your money starts to work for you. The returns from your existing investments will be much more than how much you contribute from your income. That's the magic point, the inflection point."
