In case you missed it: News bites for the week.
Investment company Infratil has disclosed a valuation increase for its 49.7% stake in Australian data centre company CDC. In a statement to the NZX, Infratil said its holding was worth A$7.454 billion as of March 31, up from A$6.954 in December. During the quarter, Infratil contributed A$250 million to an A$500m equity raise for CDC, while in March, CDC raised a further A$2.7b in bank debt. CDC’s net debt as of March was A$5b. At the valuation date, CDC had operating capacity of 671MW and 572MW under construction.
One of milk processor Synlait’s longest-serving staff, chief supply chain & technology officer Rob Stowell, has resigned. In a statement to the NZX, Synlait said he would leave the company in July to pursue a new opportunity. Stowell joined Synlait in 2007 and was appointed to the senior executive team in February 2016 as general manager of integrated business planning. He was appointed chief financial officer in July 2022 and chief commercial officer in April 2024. Chief executive Richard Wyeth said Stowell had played a pivotal role at Synlait. “Most recently, he led the successful major recapitalisation of the business and the sale of the company’s North Island assets,” said Wyeth. “On behalf of Synlait, we thank Robert for his contribution and wish him all the best for the future.”
Dairy prices edged lower at the latest global auction as markets digested the consequences of the Middle East war. The price of key export commodity whole milk powder slipped 0.7% to US$3687 per metric tonne at the overnight auction. The overall GDT index fell 3.4% to US$4228 per metric tonne, the steepest decline this year, with falls recorded for most commodities on offer, especially butter, anhydrous milk fat, and mozzarella cheese. ASB’s economics team said the stronger decline in overall prices suggested broader weakness across other dairy product categories beyond whole milk powder, while rising energy costs and inflation concerns might be eating into demand for dairy.
London-based alternative asset manager Gresham House, which owns forest assets in New Zealand, has taken a majority stake in a US-based manager to create the world’s third-largest timber manager with $14b of forestry assets. Gresham today announced the deal to acquire the stake in Molpus Woodlands Group, creating a company with forestry assets spanning the UK, Ireland, the US, Australia and New Zealand, managing almost 900,000 hectares. In New Zealand, Gresham has a 25% stake in a portfolio of eight forests covering more than 12,000 hectares. Gresham has targeted a 40% allocation to Australasia, and recently secured a cornerstone investment from Australian superannuation fund NGS Super into its Sustainable International Forestry Strategy.
NZX-listed software-as-a-service company PaySauce has reported a 6% year-on-year increase in annual recurring revenue at the end of March, as active customer numbers rose 5% to 8600. In a fourth-quarter update preceding its full-year results announcement in May, the company said revenue growth from new customer acquisition and service enhancements had more than offset a 23% year-on-year decline in interest income on client funds. Interest income had dropped as term deposits matured and were re-priced at lower yields, and now represented 18% of total recurring revenue, down 6 percentage points on the same quarter a year ago. The company disclosed a 12% year-on-year increase in processing fee revenue, totalling $1.8 million for the quarter. A key achievement in the quarter was onboarding the first commercial customers in Australia to its new Global Payroll Platform, following a successful pilot last year and a soft launch at the Australian Dairy Conference in February.
A judge accused of yelling at New Zealand First leader Winston Peters and calling him a liar at a function at Auckland’s Northern Club in 2024 will remain an acting district court judge until her warrant expires next February. Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said a panel, which looked at Judge Ema Aitken’s conduct, has found that her removal as a judge was not justified. Goldsmith said the panel found her actions were a serious breach of 'comity', which requires each of the executive, the judiciary and the legislature to act with mutual restraint and respect towards the others. “However, the panel considered the judge’s conduct fell short of the high threshold of ‘misbehaviour’ necessary to warrant consideration of her removal,” he said.
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