| Decision | Retrospective consent granted Section 12(a) Overseas Investment Act 2005 |
|---|---|
| Decision date | 6 June 2014 |
| Investment | An overseas investment in sensitive land, being the Applicants’ acquisition, indirectly via Walter Peak Corporate Trustee Limited as Trustee of the Walter Peak Station Trust, of mortgage interests in approximately 34.892 hectares of land at Walter Peak, Queenstown. |
| Consideration | The consideration is the amount of a private loan. |
| Applicant | Morris, David and Benjiman Kahn, Ian and Tonya Koblick and Shmuel Meitar Morris Salomon Kahn (Israel) (27.5%) Shmuel Meitar, (Israel) (27.5%) Koblick (Ian and Tonya) (USA) (25%) David Simon Kahn (Israel) (10%) Benjamin Yehoshua Kahn (Israel) (10%) |
| Vendor | Aviation Properties NZ Limited Roderick William Guthrie Nielsen, New Zealand (100%) |
| Background | In 2006, the Applicants sold around 39 hectares of land to a New Zealand property developer. The property developer intended to construct residential dwellings and a visitors accommodation lodge on the land but went into receivership before the development could be completed. In 2008, before the property developer went into receivership, the Applicants loaned it money and secured the loan via mortgages over the land. The Applicant has sought and been granted retrospective consent to acquire those mortgage interests. The current owners of Walter Peak Station (being a subset of the Applicants) intend to enforce the mortgages, acquire the relevant land and progress the development by completing the indigenous replanting requirements of the resource consent (refer case 201410018). It is noted that the owners of Walter Peak Station have already re-acquired most of the land they had sold to the property developer (refer case 201220013). The overseas investment transaction has satisfied the criteria in section 16 of the Overseas Investment Act 2005. The 'substantial and identifiable benefit to New Zealand' criteria were satisfied by particular reference to the following factors: Overseas Investment Act 2005 Overseas Investment Regulations 2005 |
| More information | John Williamson Checketts McKay PO Box 41 ALEXANDRA |
| Retrospective penalty | $3,000 |