Mark Ashcroft, a partner at SEQEL, the executive search, board appointments and succession planning firm, writes about how business leadership can resemble an Ironman endurance race. The full New Zealand Herald online article can be found here.

In a first for New Zealand, a dedicated pops orchestra is launching this year, and will present a stellar line-up at its premiere performance in March, ‘Follow Your Heart’. The New Zealand Pops Orchestra (NZPO) brings a unique fusion of popular contemporary music and mixes it with classical sounds.

 ’Follow Your Heart’  is designed to lift the spirits of audience members and offer a platform for emerging Kiwi talent.

Co-star of ‘Follow Your Heart,’ and successful Kiwi crossover tenor Will Martin, says he is excited to be involved with the launch of the NZPO and that such an orchestra could have helped him achieve success sooner.

“The formation of the NZ Pops Orchestra is the stuff of dreams for me . . . an opportunity to perform classical, crossover, and contemporary repertoire, all within the same performance, and all on New Zealand stages for New Zealand audiences.

“If you’ve never been to an orchestral concert before, this is the one for you, and those who are regulars will be sure to have their expectations exceeded as well.”

Joining Will Martin on stage, internationally acclaimed New Zealand soprano Gina Sanders will perform a wide selection of favourite arias and songs from opera and music theatre, including  Song to the Moon by Dvorak and Cole Porter’s So in Love.

As part of its mission to be accessible and inclusive of audiences and musicians alike, the NZPO has invited Toni Gibson, a young and rising singing star from the Kapiti Coast, to be a guest performer at the premiere.

The high-profile musician who has been appointed to the prestigious post of NZPO patron is music legend and MBE Gray Bartlett, who will perform in future concerts. Gray, who manages Toni Gibson’s profile and career in New Zealand, sees a bright future for the young chanteuse, with a boost from performing with the NZPO, and likens her to Hayley Westenra.

The wide-ranging appeal of the concert’s programme will see timeless classics merged with popular music that everyone recognizes, through feature pieces from Brahms, Dvorak and Lehar to Elton John, Enya and The Moody Blues.

The premier public concert will be staged on Sunday 18 March in the Auckland Town Hall, with soloists Will Martin (tenor), Gina Sanders (soprano) and professional orchestral musicians conducted by NZ Pops’ artistic and musical director Rita Paczian.

Rita Paczian says the NZPO’s core values are simple. “We are performing music that audiences want to hear, at the highest professional standards. We want to give audiences an uplifting and exciting experience that offers interaction between performers and listeners, and above all, we want to touch people’s souls.”

The New Zealand Pops Orchestra is inspired by internationally successful and established groups, including the Boston Pops Orchestra, Andre Rieu’s Johann Strauss Orchestra and the Queensland Pops Orchestra.

NZPO has garnered the support of several respected professionals, who each play a vital part in the running and establishment of the NZPO and New Zealand Pops Orchestra Foundation Trust (NZPOFT). The line-up of trustees includes Reinhold Goeschl, Phil Morgan Rees, Roger J Kerr, Dwayne Alexander plus Raylene Ramsay and Peter Rowe as support partners.

Guardian Trust general manager, personal client services, Phil Morgan Rees, an NZPO trustee, says, “By establishing a trust to sit alongside the orchestra, this allows us to generate funding that will in turn make classical music more accessible for aspiring young Kiwi talent in the future. It will also help the orchestra to fund its planned growth and tour of New Zealand.”

The second concert of 2012 will also be held at the Auckland Town Hall, on Sunday 21 October. Over the coming years, the concert schedule will expand to include more performances, venues and cities.

Other art forms will be showcased in future concerts – dance, literature, mime and visual arts – along with a wide variety of instruments and performers such as the piano accordion, Celtic harp, folk music from many cultures and Maori Concert Parties.

The details:

Date: Sunday 18 March 2012

Time: 5pm

Venue:Auckland Town Hall

Tickets: $15 – $80, available at www.buytickets.co.nz

or 0800 BUY TICKETS (0800 289 842)

Website: www.newzealandpops.co.nz

More information can be found here.

Diana Clement recently interviewed Phil Morgan Rees of the Guardian Trust on the subject of gifting to trusts and the recently changed laws surrounding this practice. As pointed out by Morgan Rees, “Gift duty is only one aspect to be considered. [The rule change] just means you don’t have to file a return to the IRD and you won’t be taxed. What hasn’t been changed is more important.” The full article that appeared on the New Zealand Herald website can be found here.

3 February 2012

Kerryn Downey and William Black, of McGrathNicol, the Receivers for South Canterbury Finance Limited (SCF), are very pleased to announce today that SCF’s shareholding of 33.6% in DHL has been acquired by existing NZ shareholders.

US shareholders, holding 25% of the shares in DHL, followed a parallel process and also sold their shares to the existing NZ shareholders.

The transaction values the DHL Group in excess of $535 million, enterprise value. SCF will receive $56.4 million from the sale of its 33.6% interest.

The Dairy Holdings Group is the largest corporate owner of dairy farms in New Zealand. The group owns 58 dairy farms and owns and leases a further 15 grazing blocks, all in the South Island, covering a total land area of 18,000 hectares. In the 2010/11 season, the DHL Group produced 14.1 million kg of milk solids from approximately 43,400 milking cows.
Kerryn Downey said, “This has been a lengthy and robust sale process that commenced in December 2010. We have worked closely with other shareholders and our sale advisors and are delighted that the sale has been to NZ buyers and will not require OIO approval. This is a good result for SCF, the Crown and the Trustee.”

The Receivers of SCF were advised by First NZ Capital, working with Murray & Company acting for the US-based shareholders.

 ends

For further information regarding the SCF Group, please refer to the website (www.scf.co.nz) and the Receivers’ website (www.mcgrathnicol.com).

Media Enquiries:
This release issued on behalf of McGrathNicol by:
Kate Alexander
Alexander Communications
Tel:    +64 9 524 4957
Mob:  +64 27 244 6094
kate@alexandercomms.co.nz

About McGrathNicol
McGrathNicol is an independent advisory firm specialising in corporate advisory, forensic, transaction services and corporate recovery. It is a market leader in Australia and New Zealand, with more than 300 people across the region, including more than 31 partners.
Note to media
Kerryn Downey and William Black, of advisory firm McGrathNicol, were appointed Receivers and Managers of South Canterbury Finance Limited and its charging subsidiaries on 31 August 2010.
Charging Group Entities (collectively “the SCF Group”)
South Canterbury Finance Limited (In Receivership)
Belfast Park Limited (In Receivership) 
Braebrook Properties Limited (In Receivership) 
Face Finance Limited (In Receivership)
Fairfield Finance Limited (In Receivership) 
Flexi Lease Limited (In Receivership) 
Galway Park Limited (In Receivership)
Helicopter Nominees Limited (In Receivership)
Hornchurch Limited (In Receivership)
Rental Cars Limited (In Receivership)
SCFG Systems Limited (In Receivership)
Sophia Investments Limited (In Receivership)
Southbury Insurance Limited (In Receivership) 
Tyrone Estates Limited (In Receivership)

Kerryn Downey and William Black  of McGrathNicol, the receivers for South Canterbury Finance, have announced today that shareholders of Dairy holdings Ltd, have bought shares owned by collapsed South Canterbury Finance. Read the full story here. in the New Zealand Herald.

The liquidator for the Blue Chip group of companies, Meltzer Mason Heath, has filed a $40 million claim against the failed property investment group, which banked investors’ funds straight into its own bank accounts instead of into trust accounts.

The statement of claim, lodged in the High Court in Auckland, is against Blue Chip’s former directors and auditors, and on behalf of about 800 investors, says Jeff Meltzer of Meltzer Mason Heath.

Todays announcement featured in a number of key national news outlets including The New Zealand Herald, TVNZ,  Sharechat, National Business Review, Stuff, Interest.co.nz and a number of other news outlets across the country

Kelvin Taylor, marketing director at Diadem shares his expert opinion and insight into project management in an opinion piece published at idealog.co.nz

 Taylor believes the three most likely factors to be compromised within project management are time, quality or cost.

The article explores how project managers can manage compromise, strategies and tactics to use and how to weigh up the cost of implementation.

The full article can be read here.

The company started with humble beginnings, selling their pizzas to students at Victoria University.

Controversy, “cool factor” and great pizza have been key ingredients in the development of the highly successful company who have now successfully entered  Asia – opening stores in Seoul, Korea after already making a significant impact on the New Zealand market.

The International development of the brand has been steady with franchises in India, Ireland and Australia.

The Dominion Post, Nelson Mail and the Manawatu Standard  recently ran a page dominant article on HELL Pizza, talking with the founder Stu McMullin. You can read the online version here of the Dominion Post version.

Keryn Ward was interviewed by Jim Mora from Radio New Zealand. She updated retailers, shoppers and the community on the status of the centre after the earthquake and subsequent aftershocks on 23rd December. The link to the interview can be found here.

The Palms Shopping Centre in Shirley will remain closed today, Saturday 24 December following yesterday’s 5.8 magnitude earthquake and subsequent aftershocks.

Structural engineers are continuing to assess the building to ensure that it is safe prior to reopening. The safety and wellbeing of our retailers, staff and customers is our main priority.

Customers are asked to obtain updates on the centre via The Palms Shopping Centre Facebook page and website.

We realise that it is unfortunate that the centre is unable to open on Christmas Eve nevertheless The Palms Shopping Centre Management Team and retailers wish all their customers a merry and safe Christmas.