Tainui’s $90m war chest, Queen St towers’ sale and Rich Lister’s award-winning home

Tainui Group Holdings has revealed it will spend up to $90 million under a new investment strategy.

In today’s print edition of the National Business Review, TGH chief executive Mike Pohio says it is considering four new proposals, including a hotel project for central Tauranga, and it is in the throes of appointing a chief investment officer.

In commercial property news, three office towers are for sale in Auckland’s Queen St, in a market relatively short of stock on offer.

Meanwhile, the Queenstown home of famous English aristocrat Henrietta, Dowager Duchess of Bedford, has won a top building award.

The dowager duchess’ fortune was estimated at $1 billion in the NBR Rich List last year – to see how her and others’ fortunes have changed pick up the 2013 Rich List, which will be released next Friday.

In his On The Money column, Michael Coote says while housing affordability is going to be a major issue at the next general election, the Reserve Bank should not cave in to the career aspirations of politicians.

Economics editor Rob Hosking points out a shift in controversial loan to value ratios for home buyers is just one of the options being considered by the Reserve Bank.

Meanwhile, an insolvency specialist warns struggling business to get close to their banks and ensure they are being realistic about their growth prospects.

Institute of IT Professionals NZ chief executive Paul Matthews details five low-cost measures the government should take right now to incentivise good behaviour in future privacy and security breaches.

A mining stalwart is planning a major dredging project in northern Southland, despite the recent drop in gold prices.

And in rare praise for the government, a business leader says it is up to private enterprise to show more initiative to exploit the array of opportunities arising from the liberalised trade platform.

In Heartland, University of Waikato professor of agribusiness Jacqueline Rowarth writes the escalating costs of compliance threaten the viability of farm businesses.

Also in today's print edition:

• Shoeshine takes us on a journey through Chorus’s ultra fast broadband rollout and why the listed Telecom spinoff is starting to look like a possum in a spotlight.
• Guest columnist Paul Goldsmith, a National list MP, argues the last thing the government should do is punish people with additional taxes – such as capital gains – when they are saving through real estate or by building up their own businesses.
• In Asia Watch, Nathan Smith outlines how India’s potential will be limited so long as deep structural problems remain.