Sam Zell’s dairy investment, Fonterra’s real revenue lags, dark pool dangers and weighing Scales

US billionaire Sam Zell has invested about $15 million in Dairy Farms NZ Ltd, which is considering a listing.

In today’s National Business Review print edition, reporter David Williams reveals the dairy farm investment company has already raised $40 million and has Overseas Investment Office approval to buy two neighbouring Canterbury farms.

In other news, primary industries reporter Jamie Ball outlines how Fonterra’s revenue has increased by 2% since 2002, after adjusting for inflation, while its milk supply has increased 32% over the same period.

Economics correspondent Neville Bennett delves into the murky world of dark pools, which is exercising the mind of New York’s Attorney-General, and says he has evidence suggesting the unregulated markets are used to launch short-selling raids on listed stocks.

The Shoeshine column runs the numbers for the upcoming Scales Corporation IPO and what pressure on the European apple market might mean.

Foreign affairs reporter Nathan Smith highlights the looming opportunity for New Zealand business if Iran’s trade sanctions are lifted – and what Tehran is encouraging international exporters to do in the meantime.

In political matters, Media Watch’s David Cohen captures the mood about John Key’s new biography, and how the author has seen the prime minister through the prism of his own newspaper.

Property editor Chris Hutching asks newly formed Scentre Group about its future plans for its nine New Zealand shopping centres worth about $2.8 billion.

Technology editor Chris Keall runs the rule over Eroad and discovers why the long-awaited IPO has taken so long to hit the market, including a crucial technology audit in the United States.

In Ad/Media, reporter Campbell Gibson highlights the latest accounts of New Zealand’s biggest ad agency, Ogilvy & Mather, and how a loss of billings has failed to dislodge a stable profit result.

Meanwhile, there is mounting criticism against taxpayer-funded Film New Zealand over its effectiveness, accountability and transparency.

Economics editor Rob Hosking outlines how the National Party is beginning to emulate the last Labour government in over-charging for accident compensation.

In Margin Call, Armillary Private Capital’s David Wallace says New Zealand business owners aren’t working their assets enough to generate better returns to shareholders.

Briefly:

• Order Paper looks past political play with roads to signals on possible tax cuts
• Foreign Affairs lays out Germany’s challenge, 100 years after World War I
• Patrick Flannery pans Labour’s tax rate plans as thinking stuck in the 1960s

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