Albany Heights ‘nightmare’, F&P’s $1.2m fee dispute, Abano’s dodge and hot Queenstown site hits market

The new owner of the troubled Albany Heights development on Auckland’s North Shore has told local buyers they can have their money back.

However, the offer by 125 Gills Ltd’s solicitors to terminate existing sale and purchase agreements – detailed in today’s National Business Review print edition – comes with a catch: property owners have to make their decision within 14 days.

In other news, Haier-owned Fisher & Paykel Appliances says it has settled a dispute over a $1.2 million incentive fee related to the Chinese company’s takeover.

Shoeshine asks when did Abano Healthcare’s board first hear of an unsolicited, third party proposal to buy the company – was it before it embarked on a recent capital raising?

In NBR Property, property editor Chris Hutching reports the arrival on the market of one of Queenstown’s hottest properties – a site with panoramic lake and mountain views, with consent for up to 300 accommodation units.

Meanwhile, Martinborough-based boutique winery Alana Estate is selling its vineyard and wants to take a 10-year leaseback. Is this the future for the wine industry, which is emerging from a difficult five years?

Business editor Duncan Bridgeman reveals unit trusts formerly managed by Perpetual Asset Management are back in the market for funds and, ironically, some of the money might be pumped into Perpetual’s parent company Pyne Gould Corporation or associated companies.

With the Australian election being held this weekend, political editor Rob Hosking runs the rule over the economic climate across the ditch – and the set of tricky problems the next government will have to tackle.

In his Economically Speaking column, Neville Bennett explains why he thinks the Chinese economic model has reached its limits and how the crisis might spread globally.

Guest columnist Roger Kerr, the PwC treasury advisory partner, asks why offshore-exposed companies are not more regularly hedging against an obvious risk to group profits – that is, currency fluctuations.

Independent cloud computing consultant Ian Apperley launches a withering assault on the government’s ICT (information, communication and technology) services, and outlines an urgent case for change, as the $1.5 billion Inland Revenue systems upgrade looms.

In Asia Watch, Nathan Smith reads the economic tea leaves for South-east Asia – and worries about a looming correction cycle.

All that and more, in today’s National Business Review print edition. Out now.