Forestry company fined $112,500 for evironmental breaches near Waihi
Convictions and fines totalling $112,500 have been imposed on a logging company for repeated environmental damage on a farm near Wahi between August 2022 and October 2023.
New Zealand Rural Land Company (NZL) has completed the acquisition of a forestry estate located in the Manawatu-Whanganui region.
The estate comprises five individual properties with a total area of approximately 2,400ha, and was purchased at an acquisition cost of approximately $63 million.
The entire estate has been leased to New Zealand Forestry Leasing (NZFL) for a period of 20 years, with the first year’s payment being approximately $5m.
Co-founder and New Zealand Rural Land Management director Richard Milsom says the purchase was funded using a combination of debt and equity.
Debt was provided through an increase in borrowings from Rabobank of $25.2m.
“The equity component has been funded from the proceeds of NZL’s recent capital raise offer and from the proceeds of a $12m convertible note issued to an entity associated with NZFL.
“This forestry estate acquisition means NZL now owns 141,101ha of rural land with a 12.1 year weighted average lease term (by value), and 100% occupancy across eight tenants. It adds materially to the scale and diversity of NZL’s asset and tenant base,” says Milsom.
Rabobank regional head of sustainable finance for Australia & New Zealand Jurre Smits says the Rabobank green loan was provided to support NZL’s forestry acquisition and established a Green Financing Framework that will set out the eligible asset classes and how the proceeds from the loan will be used, managed and reported on, in line with the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association’s Green Loan Principles.
“Rabobank is proud to have partnered with NZL on this transaction as it contributes to climate change mitigation by protection and conservation of forestland, and therefore preserves the CO2 sequestering capability of the land,” Smits says.
“In addition, the green loan also supports improved biodiversity of the assets,” he says.
Alliance has announced a series of capital raise roadshow event, starting on 29 September in Tuatapere, Southland.
State farmer Pāmu (Landcorp) has announced a new equity partnership in an effort to support pathways to farm ownership for livestock farm operators.
Following a recent overweight incursion that saw a Mid-Canterbury contractor cop a $12,150 fine, the rural contracting industry is calling time on what they consider to be outdated and unworkable regulations regarding weight and dimensions that they say are impeding their businesses.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says his officials plan to meet their US counterparts every month from now on to better understand how the 15% tariff issue there will play out, and try and get some certainty there for our exporters about the future.
Brett Wotton, an Eastern Bay of Plenty kiwifruit grower and harvest contractor, has won the 2025 Kiwifruit Innovation Award for his work to support lifting fruit quality across the industry.
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