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Chinese dairy products producer Yili Group has appointed experienced agribusiness executive Alex Turnbull as chief executive to lead all five Yili Oceania Business Division companies in New Zealand.
Turnbull will take up the role of CEO of Westland Milk Products, Oceania Dairy, Canary, EasiYo, and Pure Nutrition from February 16.
Turnbull was most recently CEO of Manuka Health, and previously held senior executive and board roles at Fonterra, including managing director for Latin America.
He will report to Zhiqiang Li, the director of Yili’s Oceania Business Division.
Li said Turnbull’s strong track record across New Zealand dairy and food sectors made him the ideal candidate to build on global gains made by Yili’s New Zealand companies in recent years. “He has a mandate to strengthen performance, deepen farmer and customer partnerships, and support the long-term success of Yili’s New Zealand businesses.”
The NZ Super Fund has increased its stake in NZX-listed cinema software provider Vista Group to 6.42% after it acquired just over $6 million worth of shares between January 16 and February 4.
In an NZX filing disclosing a more than 1% movement in a substantial holding, the fund noted its most recent disclosure had been on January 19 when it crossed the 5% threshold and became a 5.15% investor. That came after it bought nearly $7.2m worth of stock since mid-September, although it also sold almost $1m in that period.
Of the latest buy, 4.75% of the shares were bought by the fund’s internal equities portfolios and 1.67% were within its portfolio managed by Mint Asset Management.
Vista Group is due to announce its full-year results on February 27. The company's shares have halved in value since March 2025.
The High Court has approved a $135.6 million class action settlement between ASB Bank and about 276,000 of its mortgage customers, with more than $100 million going to the plaintiffs after costs.
In a decision issued on January 14, Justice Geoffrey Venning gave orders confirming the orders sought by the parties, including litigation funding fees of $28.9m and legal costs of $3.5m.
A further $1.2m of legal costs was deemed attributable to a similar claim against ANZ, which remains on foot.
A payment of $30,000 to the representative plaintiffs for their additional work, including $9000 to lead plaintiff Anthony Simons, was also approved.
The settlement adds to $8.1m paid out by ASB to about 73,000 customers in a 2021 settlement with the Commerce Commission over the same issue.
The payouts follow ASB’s admitted breach of disclosure requirements in the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act relating to customers’ loan agreements.