Couple buys into old port

Homegrown Whangarei multimillionaires Tony and Clare Davies-Colley are the new co-owners of the former Port Whangarei with Sky Television founder and investor Craig Heatley.
The Davies-Colleys have bought a half-share in the property from Toll Investments Ltd, which bought the port from the Northland Port Corporation with Mr Heatley in 2004 for more than $14 million.
Mr Heatley has retained his half-share in the port.
The deal became effective three months ago but the news was only officially released this week.
Mr Davies-Colley is out of the country on a business trip but a spokesman for him said Mr Davies-Colley had kept a low profile about the deal while he and Mr Heatley consulted extensively with Whangarei marine interests over possible uses of the land over the past few weeks.
"Both the owners believe this area offers exciting growth opportunities for Whangarei district and Northland, and that there is potential for huge economic growth within the region," the spokesman said.
He said Mr Davies-Colley had no desire "to make a big splash" about buying a half-share of the port.
"He and the co-owner just want to move carefully in the direction of a development that works well and meets needs, and (they) wanted everyone's input," he said.
The spokesman was very reluctant to have the name of the vendor mentioned for fear of confusion with Toll Holdings Ltd, the Australian-owned company that runs the New Zealand rail network.
"Toll Investments Ltd is a different business altogether," he said.
The move ends some of the speculation about where the Davies-Colleys might deploy proceeds of the sale of their 11-year-old business, TDC Sawmills.
The mill included a state-of-the-art automated sawmill that was still being ramped up when Carter Holt Harvey came along with an offer the couple couldn't refuse.
They exited last December, and CHH - which said it was over the moon about the deal - promptly abandoned plans to build a massive timber mill at Marsden Pt.
All parties have kept mum about the sale price for TDC but guesses vary from $30-50million.
The amount the couple paid for the half share in the port property is also not known.
However, The Northern Advocate discovered that a block of 78ha at Port Whangarei sold for $13.65million on May 29 this year. The port land also includes eight small parcels, adding up to around 90-95ha in all, but no details are available on what was paid for those titles.