Former rich lister Bill Birnie has put his 600ha Bay of Islands coastal land section on the market through a company that targets American and other overseas investors as well as local buyers.

The property has 7.5km of coastal land with two homes on it including one main house with an infinity pool and views to the beaches below, with a second house for guests.

The two co-founders of biopharmaceutical company Protemix have bought the intellectual property assets out of liquidation in a bid to revive a once promising diabetes treatment programme.

Garth and Margaret Cooper have placed the assets, including valuable patents, in a not for profit entity called PhilERA.

In a statement they said the move is part of a “renewed focus to realise the health benefits envisaged at the time the research programme was founded.”

Auckland businessman and former investment banker Bill Birnie abandoned his bid to stop a $19m damages claim case against him yesterday.

Birnie Capital Property Partnership shareholders Allen Peters and Bernard Quinn allege that Mr Birnie and fellow director Stephen Norrie breached fiduciary duty by failing to exercise a put option to cancel BCPP’s $19m purchase of the Lion Rock development in the Bay of Islands.