An independent report says OnePath's offer to Argosy unitholders is better than DNZ's merger proposal

The Christchurch office of Deloitte New Zealand and local chartered accountants Horrocks McNab are to merge next year.

Horrocks McNab managing partner Irwin Horrocks said clients had been informed of the merger, which will be effective from April 1, 2011, during the past few days.

Mr Horrocks said the decision to partner with another firm was chosen as the most effective future strategy for the business.

Pyne Gould Corporation intends to distribute most of its shares in the new ''heartland'' bank to its shareholders following a strategic review of the Canterbury firm’s operations.

The company is working on merging its finance company unit Marac with Southern Cross Building Society and CBS Canterbury with an intention that the merged entity becomes a bank.

Scandinavian Tobacco Group has been given the green light by the Commerce Commission to merge its New Zealand businesses with importer Swedish Match.

The clearance is subject to the merged entity divesting the Willem cigar brand.

The new company will be controlled by Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG), which will hold 51% of the shares. The remaining 49% of the shares will be held by Swedish Match (SM).

The proposed merger of Pyne Gould's Marac Finance with Canterbury Building Society and Southern Cross Building Society is a step closer with the boards of all companies formally committing to the deal.

The merger, which would create a lender with $2.3 billion of assets, still requires approval from shareholders, bondholders and depositors to get over the line.