Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

More foreign investment in Walter Peak Station

Updated at 10:46 am on 3 September 2011

The Overseas Investment Office has allowed foreign investors to lift their shareholdings in one of New Zealand's best- known high country stations.

Walter Peak Station Trust owns or controls about 26,000 hectares of land in Queenstown beside Lake Wakatipu.

For an undisclosed sum Aurum Holdings MKI Ltd, of Monaco, has bought a further 7% share of the property owned or controlled by the Walter Peak Station Trust. DMC Ltd, of Israel, has bought another 4.7%.

The Overseas Investment Office says the restructuring will preserve the working relationships and philosophy shared by the current owners and will benefit New Zealand by providing more jobs.

Meanwhile, German investment fund Aquila AgrarINVEST has been granted consent to buy another two Southland dairy farms.

The company has purchased about 418 hectares of land in the Gore area for $14 million and another 221 hectares near Otautau for $6.6 million.

The same investors bought a 1400-hectare farm in Dipton in July.

Meanwhile, the Overseas Investment Office is still assessing an application by China's Shanghai Pengxin Group to buy 16 Crafar family farms in the North Island that are in receivership.

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