Dec 22, 2017 - A US billionaire is funnelling tens of millions of dollars into a three-pronged New Zealand fine wine investment, in an ambitious attempt to mirror a business model developed by a French insurance giant writes David Williams for Newsroom. The hope is to prove to the world that this country isn’t just a high-volume, low-price producer of sauvignon blanc – that it can, in fact, produce some of the best fine wine in the world.
Through Aotearoa New Zealand Fine Wine Estates limited partnership, wealthy American Brian Sheth, and wife Adriana, paid $8 million to buy loss-making North Canterbury vineyard Pyramid Valley, in a deal approved by the Overseas Investment Office in September .
Details of Sheth’s New Zealand wine ambitions are contained in the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) decision, released to Newsroom under the Official Information Act.
It says the Sheths are also buying Central Otago’s Lowburn Ferry Estates (which requires another OIO application), including 27.5 hectares of land near Cromwell, and four hectares of yet-to-be-planted land in Hawke’s Bay’s Gimblett Gravel winegrowing area, as part of their “ambitious” investment plan.
“Achieving economies of scale is a key part of the investment,” the OIO decision says, while noting the Pyramid Valley purchase isn’t dependent on the other two going ahead.
“The applicant considers there is an opportunity to create a successful competitive business in the New Zealand fine wine industry, replicating a business model used successfully in Europe.”
Sheth’s business partner is Steve Smith, the Kiwi co-founder and developer of Craggy Range wines. Smith explains to Newsroom the idea is to emulate the business model developed by insurance company AXA. According to Forbes magazine, AXA has acquired wine estates in Burgundy, France, and Hungary and Portugal since 1987 and owns more than 500 hectares of vineyards around Europe.
Smith, who got out of Craggy in 2015, says the AXA fine wine entities coalesce under the same business and management umbrella, while retaining their independent brand and personality. It’s extremely successful as a strategy and a business, he says.
“We think we’ve got an opportunity to do that in New Zealand, where you have a bunch of these smaller, really high-end brands that, by themselves, probably struggle to be long-term sustainable businesses because of their lack of scale at a business level – not so much a lack of scale of wine-making.”
“In the context of a true fine wine investment in New Zealand it’s probably the most significant that’s been made, I would suggest.”
That’s great for New Zealand, he says. The danger, in his view, is the country being pigeon-holed as just a producer of sauvignon blanc at really good-value prices.
“That would be an absolute crying shame if that’s where the New Zealand wine industry ended up, because in this country are some of the world’s great wines made from some of the world’s most famous grape varieties. And we believe it’s really important that the world gets to see that.”
Across Aotearoa New Zealand Fine Wine Estates’ three properties, Sheth’s investment is in the tens of millions of dollars, Smith says. “In the context of a true fine wine investment in New Zealand it’s probably the most significant that’s been made, I would suggest.”
The 80.7 hectare Pyramid Valley block is at Waikari, an hour north of Christchurch, close to the Waipara wine area. The vineyard was established by Mike and Claudia Weersing. The catalyst for the sale was the death of Mike’s father, Jim, who, alongside his family trust, were the operation’s major financial backers. The Weersings will initially stay on to manage the vineyard.
The vineyard is fully biodynamic and organic certified. Just over two hectares is already planted in grapes, with almost all the rest of the land used for pasture and water storage.
Pyramid Valley is high-end stuff. On average, 10,000 bottles of pinot noir and chardonnay, which retail for about $120 each, are produced each year. Two-thirds are exported.
(Yes, but how good is it? Smith says he regards the site as one of the best in the world to grow chardonnay. The combination of soils and climate give the wine a unique character, he says. “When you have a great bottle of Pyramid Valley chardonnay, particularly, but also the pinot, it leaves a lasting impression on you. With any high-end luxury product, that’s the name of the game.”)
The OIO decision lays out the breadth – but not the dollar value – of Sheth’s investment.
Two capital investments will be made over the next six years, including $1 million in the first three years. The first stage is to expand the vineyard area – the figures are redacted but to an area less than 10 hectares – thus increasing production. (Lowburn Ferry’s vineyard, near Cromwell, will also be enlarged.) Pyramid Valley’s vineyard development plans include building infrastructure for irrigation and frost protection.
After 2020, high-quality wine-tasting facilities and accommodation will be built on-site – although, the OIO says, “these facilities have not yet been designed, are at an early stage of planning, and do not yet have tangible costings”.
The OIO dismisses as “too vague, remote and unsubstantiated” claims by the Sheths that their Pyramid Valley investment will increase wine tourism to New Zealand, particularly by high-net-worth individuals.
Smith says Aotearoa New Zealand Fine Wine Estates want to take time to design the tourism accommodation, “but I can tell you now that it will definitely happen”. “And, if anything, the level of investment that we talked about in the OIO application is probably conservative.”
The $2 billion man
So, in a possibly unfair binary choice, is Sheth’s investment a money-making hobby or a serious business endeavour? Smith leans towards the latter. But he admits Sheth’s technical appreciation of wine is more “sit around with his mates” quaffing a good wine, rather than “somebody who loves to hang out with serious wine geeks all the time”.
Sheth is “well-financed”, the OIO notes in an extraordinary understatement. Forbes estimates his net worth to be $US1.39 billion ($NZ2 billion). He is the co-founder and president of US investment company Vista Equity Partners, which manages more than $US14 billion, which is mainly for mergers and acquisitions, primarily in the software and technology sector. He lives in Austin, Texas, and used to work for Bain Capital, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell.
Smith says Sheth loves wine, New Zealand and conservation. Sheth’s Sangreal Foundation and Global Wildlife Conservation entities fund a variety of causes, including a New Zealand Department of Conservation programme to help save the kaki, or black stilt, and school-building in Africa.
Sheth’s likely to shell out for more environmental causes, such as projects associated with the country’s target of being predator-free by 2050, Smith reckons. “As the projects evolve around that and they have some real chance of making a difference, I would expect Brian to be involved at an increasing level.”
Smith says Aotearoa New Zealand Fine Wine Estates, which has brought on former Trinity Hill CEO Michael Henley as its chief executive, has been keeping quiet while it shapes its plans. Snuffling the aroma of the brands, swirling the different distribution channels, pondering the finish of tourism accommodation designs.
“I think that’s going to be a decent amount of work for a while,” Smith says. “There’s been a couple of other smaller wineries that have come to market in the last two or three months that we’ve had a look at and decided ‘no’, because we just want to concentrate on this at the moment. But if it fits what we want to do and it adds value to what we want to do then, of course, we’ll have a look at it.”
Earlier this week, a joint report by ANZ Bank and Deloitte said New Zealand’s wine export revenue reached $1.66 billion this year. For the first time, exports to Australia, US and United Kingdom topped 200 million litres.
The report says Canterbury and Waipara harvested 8240 tonnes of grapes this year. The area boasts 65 wineries, 14 grape growers and employs 440 people. That makes it a minnow compared to its powerhouse northern neighbour, Marlborough, which employs 2400 people and harvested 302,396 tonnes last year.
Source: Newsroom || December 22, 2017 |||
Dec 22, 2017 - Air New Zealand is turning to technology to tackle the language barriers that often arise during travel. The airline is one of the first corporates globally to trial a customer service use case for Google’s wireless Bluetooth Pixel Buds headphones which enable live translation of 40 languages via Google’s Pixel handset. Air New Zealand Chief Digital Officer Avi Golan says the airline has a number of multi-lingual employees but naturally there are times when the relevant language speaker may not be on hand and technology could play a pivotal role in those moments. “We operate to 30 international destinations and our customers speak an even more diverse range of languages. Google’s Pixel Buds could assist in areas such as check-in and boarding as well as inflight to help our staff communicate effectively with international customers. “Both Air New Zealand and Google put people and technology at the heart of their products and experiences and it’s been excellent exploring how translation technology like Google’s Pixel Buds could enhance our customer experience. “In this increasingly digital world our customers expect us to provide a fast and personalised experience. It’s crucial we embrace technology solutions and collaborating with like-minded partners helps us keep ahead of the game,” says Mr Golan. Air New Zealand has an aspiration to be a leading digital airline. It’s experimentation with Google Pixel Buds follows on from other initiatives this year involving Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality and Social Robotics. Click here to download broadcast quality footage of Air New Zealand’s experiment with the Google Pixel Buds.
| An Air New Zealand release || December 22, 2017 |||
Dec 22, 2017 - Allbirds, the merino wool shoe company co-founded by former New Zealand soccer star Tim Brown, has expanded into its third global market, launching in Australia last month, and it’s eyeing up more markets for next year.
San Francisco-based Allbirds started selling its minimalist woollen sneakers direct to consumers in March 2016 and has online operations in the US and New Zealand, shops in San Francisco and New York, and a steady stream of pop-up outlets. It began selling online in Australia on Nov. 21 in response to customer demand from the world’s biggest merino producing country.
Dec 22, 2017 - While the inaugural Kaeser Compressors Network Evening in Wellingtons’ Hutt Valley would be expected to generate local interest, it was the comments of director Paul Jessup that delivered as much discussion as the Metco’s new Seaview premises.
Metco is owned by Paul Jessup and Brent Greer, two men with a firm grip on running an engineering component supply operation in the digital machine age. Building on its established presence in the Japanese market supplying friction window stays, the company has leapt from strength to strength, necessitating a recent move to the new expanded Seaview premises. Metco joins a growing list of New Zealand companies that have turned away from the commodity driven markets of yesteryear, ignored the third world competition bleating and got on with building niche operations using our unique Kiwi strength of rapid turn around and a solution based approach. The results speak for themselves with a portfolio of 600 customers including the Defence Force, Parliament and Rocket Labs.
The amount of digitally controlled equipment is stunning and listening to Jessup’s description of the expandable potential gave the attendees a heartening glimpse of what is possible. Metco’s roots and mainstream activities come out of traditional brake pressing cutting and folding industry, with the adaption of the latest digital technology. “This technology is leading edge.” quoted Paul Jessp “The machines are a good example of how New Zealand Industry could be positioned, developing and applying the next era of machine tools. The potential of automated lazer welding is a prime example. We have the ability to think outside the square and the innovation and efficiency to rapidly deliver it. However, there is absolutely no political drive or backing to support our potential. The machine tool operations you see in front of you would be considered a trade in any other country, but here it is not recognised and there is absolutely no training capability offered by the technical education sector to satisfy it. The bums on seats mentality of the sector is costing this country dearly.” Metco have given up looking for by outside training and now recruits, trains and develops its entire specialised staff itself.
Digital technology provides infinite scalability meaning the team can quote in numbers from 1 to 1 million, but the key to success in Jessups view is Metcos’ ability to control the entire process from start to finish. Jessup and Greers innovative approach is not restricted to new age machine tools and customers needs however. Their ethos extends to their own older traditional brake presses where a looming problem with traditional noise issues was resolved by addressing the noise generated by the die shear action. The attendees were impressed by the quietness of the operation, a view shared by Worksafe.
The Kaeser Compressors Network Evening series is as much about highlighting the capabilities of local companies as it is about spectacular achievements or interesting maintenance challenges and the Metco evening proved once again that innovation is a thriving capabaility in New Zealand.
The MESNZ Kaeser Compressors Network Evenings are hosted to showcase local operations and provide networking opportunities for engineers across all regions of New Zealand. The evenings offer the opportunity to take a look at the host operation and discuss common issues and solutions in a relaxed after work environment. Open to interested members of the public, the nights are well patronised.
The Maintenance Engineering Society is active across New Zealand, providing professional development opportunities for maintenance engineers and manufacturing operations to network and share innovations and experiences; both at a national level at their annual national conference or at these regional events. The 2018 National Maintenance Engineering Conference will be held in Rotorua on November13-15.
Source: A MESNZ release || December 22, 2017
Dec 22, 2017 - The former heads of the UK’s biggest retailers have called for the introduction of a plastic free aisle at supermarkets. Plastic free aisle Former chiefs of Asda, Tesco, Marks and Spencer, and Argos, along with current bosses at Debenhams and Weleda said in an open letter that while aluminium and glass can be reused easily, plastic packaging cannot be recycled ad infinitum.
“Most plastic packaging items can only be recycled twice before becoming unusable,” they insisted.
“Regardless of how much is invested in Britain’s recycling infrastructure, virtually all plastic packaging will reach landfill or the bottom of the ocean sooner or later.
“It is therefore essential that retailers and packaging manufacturers work together to turn off the tap of throwaway packaging. Retailers should take advantage of the raft of zero-plastic packaging solutions that provide a real alternative to conventional plastic.”
The group said a plastic free aisle would be good for business, as research showed at least a third of consumers base their purchasing decisions on the social and environmental impact of the products they buy.
This is not the first time there have been calls for plastic free aisles, and such views have been met with scepticism by packaging industry bodies and manufacturers.
The British Plastics Federation (BPF) has previously criticised the idea, saying that such a campaign deflected from the important role plastic packaging provides.
The material, according to the BPF, increases the hygiene of food while the Co-Op has warned that packaging-free food can increase food waste.
Iain Ferguson, Co-Op’s environment manager, told Sky News this week: “The packaging actually helps to increase the shelf life, for example on cucumbers, we used to sell them unwrapped. We did a full-scale trial in 2012 measuring the waste of wrapped and unwrapped cucumbers and we found that by wrapping the cucumbers we reduced the waste by two thirds.”
The UK’s retailers combined revenues exceed £380bn, and the sector employs 4.6 million people nationwide.
The signatories are:
Andy Clarke - Former CEO, ASDA
Sir Ian Cheshire - Chairman, Debenhams
The Lord Rose of Monewden - Former CEO, Argos, former Chairman and CEO, Marks and Spencer
The Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth DL - Former Chairman, Tesco
The Lord Stone of Blackheath - Former Managing Director, Marks and Spencer
The Lord Jones of Birmingham - Business Leader
The Lord Hayward OBE - Former Chief Executive of the British Soft Drinks Association
The Lord Cameron of Dillington - Former National President of the Country Land and Business Association
The Baroness Scott of Needham Market - Former Board Member, Lloyds Register, Party President, Liberal Democrats
The Lord Clement-Jones CBE - Former Co-Secretary and Legal Director, Kingfisher
The Rt Hon. Lord Foster of Bath - Associate, Global Partners Governance
The Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts CBE - Former Director, Marston’s PLC
Brent Hoberman CBE - Founder, Lastminute.com
The Rt Hon. The Lord Goldsmith QC, PC - Former Attorney General
The Lord Judd - Former Director Oxfam
The Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer - Unicef Board Member
The Lord Rees of Ludlow OM - Astronomer Royal
The Baroness Lister of Burtersett CBE - Author and Professor
Jayn Sterland - Managing Director, Weleda UK
| Source: PackagingNews || December 21, 2017 |||
Bangkok with Qantas
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Closeout and blackout periods apply over school holidays and peak holiday periods & availability of seats is likely to be very limited over this time.
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Phuket with Qantas
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Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
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Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242