Former SCF chief Lachie McLeod speaks out, Precinct faces legal challenge, Stihl boss rubbishes NZ on climate change

In NBR Print today: The fate of Auckland’s downtown Queen Elizabeth Square is far from decided, reports Sally Lindsay. Although Precinct Properties [NZX:PCT] is sitting on a conditional agreement to buy the Auckland Council-owned square for $27.2 million and has been granted a private plan change rezoning the land from public to commercial space, it will have to fight off Environment Court challenges. Auckland Transport has also thrown a spanner in the works.

If former Serious Fraud Office chief executive Adam Feeley saw former South Canterbury Finance chief executive Lachie McLeod walking down the street toward him he might consider evasive action. Mr McLeod has told NBR about his efforts to move beyond bitterness in the wake of his acquittal on fraud charges and a recent costs award in his favour. In an exclusive interview with Chris Hutching he counts the cost – the emotional turmoil as well as the dollars.

Given he heads a global company with turnover of €3.2 billion, Nikolas Stihl has a surprisingly strong interest in New Zealand. The chainsaw baron has a view on this country’s policy response to climate change: “It’s simply “bullshit,” he tells Nick Grant.

Fonterra [NZX:FSF]  has set its sights on lowering its debt levels, with a bond offering this week revealing the cooperative is forecasting a lower gearing ratio for the 2016 financial year. But analysts are intrigued that Fonterra is issuing bonds in an environment where global credit markets aren’t in good shape. Jason Walls reports.

A Wellington-based software company backed by Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1 fund has signed a deal with the world’s largest casino-hotel chain, worth approximately $10 million, reports Campbell Gibson.

The halfway mark in the biggest quarterly reporting season of the year has been reached, with about 40 companies releasing results. Calida Smylie reviews what has been a pretty respectable results season so far.

Minimal inflation is something new and not only the government but businesses and households are having to learn to cope with it, Finance Minister Bill English tells Rob Hosking.

Global sharemarkets, with New Zealand caught in the tailwinds, continue to defy rational explanations as they bob up and down daily. Nevil Gibson explains the high degree of volatility.

The sharemarket performance of many of the companies that listed in during 2014 and 2015 makes you wonder about a lot of things, says Shoeshine, casting his eye of Wynyard Group [NZX:WYN], Orion Health [NZX:OHE] and Intueri [NZX:IQE] among others.

The risks of local authority over-reach are again on display in Dunedin, writes Tim Hunter in Hunters’ Corner, singling out  council-owned civil contracting business Delta.

The Labour Party is trying yet another strategy and this one harks back to Norman Kirk, writes Rob Hosking in Order paper. Dreams are never free, he concludes.

More than $50 million of capital commitments by the Venture Investment Fund will be honoured, says its outgoing chief executive Franceska Banga, as the government mulls its future support. Tim Hunter reports.

A major restructure of Ashburton Licencing Trust highlights the anomalous hangover of the trusts from prohibition days, writes Chris Hutching. After years of unprofitability and no donations to the community, the trust is selling nine of its 10 pub businesses.

All this and more in today’s National Business Review Print Edition. Out now.

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