6 Nov 2015

Lochinver sale to finance industrial zone

11:44 am on 6 November 2015

The owners of Lochinver Station near Taupo say the sale of the farm will allow them to invest in a new industrial area in south Auckland and create 8000 jobs.

Disputed ground - an aerial view of Lochinver Station.

An aerial view of Lochinver Station Photo: SUPPLIED

Stevenson Group agreed to sell the 14,000 hectare station to a Chinese company last year, but the government stopped the sale.

Yesterday, it was announced the central North Island farm had been sold for an undisclosed sum to a privately-owned New Zealand farming group, Rimanui Farms.

However Stevenson's chief executive Mark Franklin said the 8000 jobs the company touted as being created by investment of the sale proceeds included existing jobs which would move to a new 360-hectare industrial park to be developed over the next 20 years.

Mr Franklin said the industrial park had been in the works for eight years.

"South of Auckland is the growth area and there isn't much industrial land around Auckland at the moment, so this area is in front of our quarries and basically we started it so our quarry roots, our transport roots, would be protected in the long term.

"But an industrial zone where we've got a lot of businesses that are symbiotic with that area, so a lot of industrial projects, and also south of Auckland which is going to be a sort of a transport hub I guess, moving out of Auckland and then south of Auckland through the golden triangle."

Mr Franklin said Stevenson Group sold Lochinver Station because it got a reasonable price and it intends focusing on its core business and investments such as quarries and concrete in Auckland and property investments.

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