RBS, MediaWorks in big foreign deals

Two deals worth $1.7 billion have been approved by a government agency.

An $878 million bank sale and an $825 million media deal got Overseas Investment Office approval, according to the office's latest list of decisions.

New Zealand assets were involved in both the big deals which needed approval due to the type of properties involved and the size of the deals.

The British Government got approval for the purchase of Royal Bank of Scotland Group's New Zealand assets, worth $878 million, as part of the bank bailout deal.

The office's approval was needed because it involved sensitive land at Hamilton International Airport and Auckland land at Takanini.

The $825.9 million media deal was for British-controlled GR Media Holdings to buy MediaWorks from HT Media.

"MediaWorks is New Zealand's leading private sector broadcast media company. The acquisition of the shares by the applicant is part of the restructure of MediaWorks Group," according to the decision sheet.

A private equity deal worth more than $100 million was also approved. Goldman Sachs JB Were and Hauraki Private Equity No 21 fund got clearance to buy assets from Vision Senior Living.

The deal needed state approval due to sensitive land being involved and the amount of money.

Vision is owned by New Zealanders but the private equity businesses are 19.5 per cent Australian and 69.4 per cent New Zealand. The private equity businesses already held 55 per cent of shares in Vision but the office said they were making an injection of additional capital.

Land at Kerikeri, in Henderson and Hamilton was involved in that deal, all three sites classified "sensitive".

Australia's GH Westbury, owned by Gerard Harvey, got consent for a $6.9 million deal to buy a thoroughbred stud farm near Matamata.

Canada's Fairlight Station got approval for a $6.3 million deal to buy 1327ha of land classified as sensitive at Rangitata Gorge Rd, Geraldine.

A deal to transfer the ownership of 83ha of freehold land at Glenorchy's Wyuna Station near Queenstown was approved.

Britain's Soho Property got approval to buy 8579ha for a secret sum at Glencoe Station, Wakatipu. Soho already has pastoral leases for Motatapu and Mt Soho Stations and since buying those has restored the land. Belgium's Adagio Trust got approval to buy 394ha of land at Lilybank Rd, Lake Tekapo.

Honikiwi Holdings, jointly owned by American and Japanese interests, got approval to buy 788ha of land at Otorohanga for $1.8 million so it can plant Californian redwood.

Canada's Kirikiri Part was granted consent for a deal involving assets worth $2 million for 517ha of land near Napier which will be converted from sheep and beef farming to forestry.

Most details of a 12.6ha deal at Beachlands were suppressed, as were details of New Zealand's Redwood Group's deal to sell 7.8ha of Queenstown land.