Milford’s strange bedfellows, Genesis’ beginning, analysts ‘asleep’ over Chorus and Labour’s tax plans

The $68.5 million deal to merge Guardian Trust with Perpetual Trust, under Complectus, has raised eyebrows among some fund managers.

It’s not just the price – some industry players are struggling to fathom the involvement of Brian Gaynor’s highly regarded Milford active growth fund.

In today’s National Business Review print edition, Shoeshine puts questions to Mr Gaynor who lays to rest speculation over the investment, what the fund has said about investing in the unlisted sector and any potential for Milford to merge into the setup.

Meanwhile, will it be third time lucky for the mixed ownership model? Duncan Bridgeman and David Williams report the Genesis Energy partial privatisation is shaping up as the best for investors, amid some antagonism over heavy scaling.

Politics editor Rob Hosking outlines the centrepiece of Labour’s economic policies, which has a familiar ring to it – tax hikes.

Is Chorus really a company caught in the grip of a regulator run amok? In the Technology section, Telecommunications Users’ Association chief executive Paul Brislen says he’s staggered stock brokers and share analysts didn’t see the writing on the wall.

Primary industries reporter Jamie Ball details how a government working group into Manuka honey counterfeiting was disbanded without its findings being released.

In other news, Hirepool boss Brian Stephen talks about how the company – tipped for a sizeable IPO before September’s election – is poised to capitalise on the economic upturn in construction.

Margin Call tackles one of the world’s best known brands, Coca-Cola, and why its products are far from a spent force or facing an existential threat, despite ructions across the Tasman.

Property editor Chris Hutching traverses the final throes of Robert McVitty’s dairy empire receivership – and how much the banks have been paid, of the tens of millions owed.

NBR motoring editor David Linklater brings us Showroom, a 20-page glossy liftout which highlights what’s hot in the Kiwi new-car market this autumn – plus, he peers behind the sales volumes to discover the changes in passenger-car buyer preferences.

Media reporter Victoria Young dips into the story of Media Co, a niche agency which is taking its ad analytics app offshore after a “lukewarm” response from local agencies.

Briefly:

• In Initiative Matters, Oliver Hartwich says an inquiry into local government funding sources shouldn’t stop there – he argues it should probe the role of local government and how councils could be encouraged to go for growth and development.
• In his latest pre-budget column, Sir Roger Douglas outlines how to implement the budget for tomorrow by restoring responsibility to individuals to tame the increasing cost of government services.
• In Foreign Affairs, Nathan Smith sheds light on Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Beijing this week, and three lessons China can learn from the Ukraine crisis.

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