Chinese buy Northland holiday park

Whatuwhiwhi Holiday Park has been bought by Carrington Holiday Park Jade for $3.8 million.

OIO’s Whatuwhiwhi nod among a raft of overseas approvals.

Chinese interests have paid $3.8 million for an iconic Northland holiday park.

The Overseas Investment Office gave consent for Carrington Holiday Park Jade, owned by Guo Jie Gui, to buy the 2.5ha Whatuwhiwhi Holiday Park from its New Zealand owners.

Carrington bought the Karikari Peninsula property to develop existing accommodation, upgrade it and create additional facilities.

The buy will allow the new owner to develop its adjoining Carrington Resort further and offer more to the tourism market, the office said. The deal needed to go before the authority because sensitive land near the seaside site was involved.

Meanwhile, the Singapore Government's Reco Otago Private got consent for a deal involving $1 billion of assets from St Lukes Group Holdings.

Reco is part of the GIC group, buying a half-share in Westfield shopping malls at Albany, Manukau, Newmarket, St Lukes and Riccarton. The deal went before the OIO because it involved $100 million-plus of assets.

China's Pengxin Holdings (HK) got consent to buy a big Auckland office block in the Spark four-block Victoria St West campus from NZ business Mansons Holdings. The amount involved is suppressed. The deal is for Building D at 167-169 Victoria St West on the corner of Hardinge St.

"The investment ... [will] enable the Shanghai Pengxin Group to expand and diversify its operations in New Zealand," the OIO said.

Japan's Beecom (NZ) got consent to buy an 11ha Central Otago vineyard from Kiwis Blair Linn and Estelle Hunt. Beecom intends to plant an additional 2ha of grape vines, exporting most of the wine to overseas markets such as Japan.

Te Hau Station, owned by Australian Phillip Colebatch, can now buy 1037ha at Whatatutu, Gisborne, from NZ's Bremner Pastoral Properties.

China's Waste Management NZ got consent for $8.8 million of land purchases at Puketutu Island and Bromley in Christchurch as part of its acquisition of Living Earth.

Switzerland's Aitken Street Real Estate Netherlands & Credit Suisse Funds got consent for a deal involving $161.9 million of assets in Wellington.