The Business Herald gets in first with its New Year Honours for those who made a difference - for better or worse - during the past year.
KEY POINTS:
THE ANNETTE PRESLEY AWARD FOR MOST HIGH-PROFILE CORPORATE BREAK-UP
SkyCity's Evan Davies and Heather Shotter, whose failed marriage got the blame for Davies' inability to arrest the gambling - sorry, gaming - giant's declining fortunes.
THE PABLO ESCOBAR EXPORT AWARDS
When it comes to making a profit out of white powder, no one can top Fonterra - at least not legally.
THE NICKY WATSON AWARD FOR OVER-INFLATED ASSETS
Burger Fuel, which spent more than $1 million promoting a float - including a slick media campaign aimed at its customers. Its listing price of $1 valued the company at $53 million - a figure which drew a great deal of scepticism from brokers and media. Its shares closed yesterday at 58c. Would you like to downsize that order, sir?
THE LORD LUCAN AWARD FOR PUBLIC PROFILE
Bridgecorp, led by former 1980s high, then low flyer Rod Petricevic, which collapsed in July, owing investors almost $460 million. Its failure sparked an investor rout that contributed to the receiverships of further finance companies. Apart from the odd sighting, including stepping out of Porsche in Parnell, Petricevic has kept his head down since no doubt hoping to avoid running into investors who may get as little as 20c in the dollar.
THE BRAZEN TURKEY AWARD FOR REWRITING HISTORY
Former TVNZ news and current affairs director Bill Ralston, for claiming he left state TV because he wasn't prepared to lay off journalists, and not because of the collapse of ratings for One News.
THE STOP-THE-WORLD-I-WANT-TO-GET-OFF AWARD FOR BIZARRE PRESS RELEASES
The Real Estate Institute takes the title for issuing the most dopey press release of the year. This came flying out of HQ in Parnell in mid-December, when the agents complained they would be too busy at play to make submissions on the new Real Estate Agents Act, aimed to clean up the business and usher in a new consumer-friendly regime. Poor didums. Pity the poor real estate agents. All 18,000 of them, holidaying and partying, just too darned busy to take care of business.
THE WAYNE BARNES AWARD FOR REFEREEING BLUNDERS
The Real Estate Agents Licensing Board, for seldom penalising agents and in the rare cases it did, levying only a wet bus ticket. The board, which has the tactical nous of the All Black's kicking game, will go, under a reform of the industry.
THE MICHAEL CULLEN 'WE WON - YOU LOST' AWARD FOR USING A MAJORITY TO GET YOUR OWN WAY
Origin Energy used its 51 per cent stake of Contact Energy to ensure the re-election to the board of Tim Saunders, former chairman of failed carpet maker Feltex. Smaller shareholders voted strongly against Saunders, and although Contact chairman Grant King said Australia's Origin got their pick back on merit, at the end of the day he conceded they had the numbers, and they used them.
THE GRAHAM HENRY AWARD FOR CONTRITION
Jail-bound disgraced newspaper baron Conrad Black said the fraud case against him was a "persecution" and described the American legal system that convicted him as "capricious" and a disguised way of redistributing wealth from the rich. Black did belatedly have the sense to express very "profound regret and sadness" to those who lost their fortune.
THE VODAFONE BEST MATES PLAN AWARD
Director Tony Frankham, who worked the phone to stack up the numbers among fellow board members, in November's Auckland International Airport coup, leaving then chairman John Maasland with little option to bail out. By the end of a dramatic day of corporate DIY, a weary Frankham said: "I've been on the phone all day."
THE RIBENA AWARD FOR UNSWERVING LOYALTY TO A TARNISHED BRAND
Adidas, which reported a healthy third-quarter profit in November, and said it was helped by sales of All Black jerseys around the time of the World Cup. The German sportswear giant's sponsorship of "Brand All Blacks" has coincided with a trifecta of early exits from the tournament, each with their own degree of humiliation. But the company is undeterred. A spokeswoman said: "We greatly look forward to continue working with the All Blacks over the coming years."
THE 'KING IS IN THE ALTOGETHER' EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES AWARD
Simpson Grierson competition law partner Tony Hinton, for breaking ranks with the market that stands to make a quick one-off hit from the sale of The Warehouse. Regulatory procedures have been depicted as a fait accompli with few prospects for restrictions. Hinton said there was too much at stake and regulators should fight to prevent the sale.
THE JIMMY CARTER AWARD FOR DIPLOMACY
New Telecom boss Paul Reynolds, who appears to have ushered in a new era of sweetness and light in the often-fractious relationships among Telecom, its rivals and the Government.
THE DAVID COPPERFIELD AWARD FOR ILLUSION
Broadband internet service - still a mirage for most net users. Wasn't that what all that talk about unbundling that loop thing was meant to deliver?
THE LIFE AFTER THE GHOST TRAIN AWARD
Kiwi Property Income Trust, chief executive Angus McNaughton, who grimaced though early days when Syliva Park shopping centre was so deathly quiet tenants dubbed it Spooky Park. He then watched gleefully as the third and fourth stage retail developments boosted pedestrian traffic.
THE WAREHOUSE SHAREHOLDER MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED AWARD
Stephen Tindall, whose "should I stay or should I go" reticence to explain whether he is a buyer or a seller has boosted the share price and his net value by several hundred million dollars.
THE TURNING-THE-TABLES RADIO AWARDS FOR SUCCESS IN THE FACE OF PRIVATISATION
Brook Asset Management, which squeezed extra money from MediaWorks owners Ironbridge Capital by holding out for a better offer. The Award is shared with MediaWorks chief executive Brent Impey, who negotiated a sale clause in his employment contract with previous owners CanWest Global Communications that netted him more than $3 million.
THE BOB DYLAN AWARD FOR (DELIBERATELY) SINGING OFF-KEY
Genesis Energy head Murray Jackson, who has turned his natural-gas guzzling, state-owned enterprise as green as can be, but can't quite sing the renewable energy mantra in tune with the rest of the industry, occasionally lapsing into talk of burning fossil fuel to keep the lights on.
THE BOB THE BUILDER AWARD FOR GETTING THE JOB DONE
Opus International Consultants, the former Ministry of Works, which with minimal hype made a stellar debut on to the stock exchange.
The float had been priced to succeed and avoid the dips experienced by other equity listings this year.
The civil engineering firm is still trading at 30c above offer price of $1.65 after hitting a high of $2.30 at one stage.
AND CONTENDERS FOR UNDERTAKERS AND IRD AWARD FOR THE UNAVOIDABLE
* Kjeld Binger, CEO of Dubai Aerospace (DAE) Airports, who handed in his notice to Emirates masters just weeks after his $2.5 billion shopping trip for Auckland Airport crumbled in a heap.
* State-owned power companies Meridian, Mighty River Power and Genesis, with national electricity grid operator Transpower, who - following years of power price rises - declare a combined surplus of $500 million.
* The West Coast Brewery owner who sweetened an offer to coax investors into the venture he hopes will be worth $100 million - by offering them free beer.
QUOTE OF THE YEAR
The nominees
"Telecom will become the plumbers of the digital media economy."
Australian telecommunications consultant Paul Buddeis less than impressed with Telecom's decision to sell Yellow Pages.
"I think the Good Lord's bypassed us this year."
Fisher & Paykel Appliances chief executive John Bongard.
"Certainly during the first half of the current year we were unlucky."
SkyCity boss Evan Davies explains how high-rollers took the casino to the cleaners.
"It was invented by some competitors of ours who decided they had a clever way of making their butter look better than our butter."
Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier swipes at the concept of "food miles" before a meeting between the co-operative and retailer Tesco.
"The world's changed ... now banks are awash with money."
Kidicorp chief executive Wayne Wright explains how he can fund expansion without shareholders - just days before the big credit crunch.
"I'm quite content we'll get a solid board."
Auckland Airport chairman John Maasland on the appointment of Auckland City and Manukau City nominees Richard Didsbury and John Brabazon and Infratil chief executive Lloyd Morrison to the board. A week later he was gone.
"All my punchlines are secret."
David Goddard, QC, explains secrecy around Woolworths' case in the supermarket appeal.
"I think there was to some extent a bit of an exaggeration around the seriousness of what is occurring."
Finance Minister Michael Cullen tries to soothe fears about the global effects of the sub-prime mortgage crisis (in August).
"Regulation cannot prevent company failures and should not seek to do so."
A statement by the Securities Commission, which was unable to tell the public it had suspended Bridgecorp's prospectus days before it went into receivership.
THE WINNER
"We're older and wiser for the experience. And investors are more savvy. We survived and in the process learned the hard lessons of the 80s and business is better for it."
Well, older anyway. Bridgecorp boss Rod Petricevic reminisces about the 1987 sharemarket crash, just weeks before history repeated itself, for him at least.
- compiled by Business Herald staff.