Risk and Automated Breast Density Assessment Helps Triage Patients to Supplemental Screening and Genetic Testing
Wellington, NZ, May 20, 2020 – Volpara Health Technologies announced today that its subsidiary company, Volpara Solutions, has signed a collaboration agreement with Ambry Genetics®, one of the world’s leading genetic testing companies.
Ambry Genetics, part of Konica Minolta Precision Medicine, developed the CARE (Comprehensive, Assessment, Risk, and Education) Program™. Designed to identify high-risk patients through validated risk assessment models and genetic testing, the CARE Program provides clinically actionable results to guide cancer screening, prevention, and effectively communicates this information to patients and their care teams.
Ambry and Volpara are collaborating to incorporate CARE with Volpara’s cancer screening platform to automate the workflow by creating an online ordering process for genetic testing within the Aspen® Breast practice management software. The goal is to help providers obtain the information they need to confidently make informed decisions about their patients’ screening options.
The program will include the use of the Volpara®Density™ clinical function to automatically and objectively assess volumetric breast density, a key factor in estimating a woman’s risk for developing breast cancer. Risk assessment is often required by insurance companies to confirm reimbursement for supplemental screening and genetic testing. Patients who qualify for supplemental imaging based on genetic results or risk assessments may benefit from early cancer detection, which is key in increasing the chances of survival and reducing treatment costs.
Volpara software provides radiologists with the clinical decision-support tools they need to personalize breast screening and provide radiologists, administrators, and technologists with the practice management tools they need to improve mammographic quality and maximize resource utilization.
“Personalization of breast cancer screening based on risk is being adopted at a fast pace in the US, and Volpara is proud to be playing a major role in that. Our partnership with Ambry will allow us to offer additional value to our customers to ensure the right patients get the right testing at the right time,” said Ralph Highnam, Ph.D., Volpara Solutions CEO.
“This partnership highlights the value and the need for precision medicine. Our goal is to elevate the standard of care for patients by providing an individualized approach that will allow doctors and researchers to predict more accurately which treatment and prevention strategies will work for patients, and this partnership is leading that charge,” said Tom Schoenherr, Chief Commercial Officer of Ambry Genetics.
About Ambry Genetics®
Ambry Genetics, as part of Konica Minolta Precision Medicine, excels at translating scientific research into clinically actionable test results based upon a deep understanding of the human genome and the biology behind the genetic disease. Our unparalleled track record of discoveries over 20 years, and growing database that continues to expand in collaboration with academic, corporate, and pharmaceutical partners, means we are first to market with innovative products and comprehensive analysis that enable clinicians to confidently inform patient health decisions. We care about what happens to real people, their families, and the people they love, and remain dedicated to providing them and their clinicians with deeper knowledge and fresh insights, so together they can make informed, potentially life-altering healthcare decisions. For more information, please visit www.ambrygen.com.
About Volpara Solutions
Volpara Solutions is committed to helping save families from cancer. Volpara’s advanced technology platform combines with the healthcare provider’s expertise to provide a high-quality, optimized, and personalized cancer screening experience. From the time a patient enters a clinic to when they obtain key results, our platform collects and analyzes information to better understand a patient’s breast cancer risk, while also objectively evaluating image quality and workflow-improvement opportunities. These capabilities are being extended to lung cancer screening. Volpara’s platform is supported by numerous patents, trademarks, and regulatory clearances, including FDA clearance and CE marking, and validated by a volume of peer-reviewed publications unrivaled in the breast screening industry. For more information, visit http://www.volparasolutions.com.
A New Zealand swimwear company is experiencing a surge in demand for its bikinis made from recycled fishnets.
As the United States eases into their summer months, Kalakoa swimwear says the company experienced a 300% increase in online traffic on the website in two days and is now shipping out orders to northern hemisphere customers daily.
Former lifesaving champion Toni Burke created the company, which aims to produce swimwear that is ethically manufactured and sustainable. She says there is a clear demand for affordable and sustainable swimwear in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The material the company uses is made from carvico vita, derived from fishnets found in the ocean, as well as lepreve lycra made from plastic bottles.
"I also think they are also a bit more daring with their swimwear choices in terms of pattern and design and in NZ we can be a bit more conservative. That's why I've made the swimwear reversible so there is block colour on one side for those who don't want a swimsuit that makes such a bold or colourful statement," she says.
Burke was unable to find a manufacturer in New Zealand, so opted for the product to be handmade in Bali.
"I am constantly trying to make our brand as eco-friendly as possible and will have more ideas on the horizon as we grow," Burke says.
Source: New Zealand Herald
If overseas inquiries to industrial engineering company NDA Group are any yardstick, the perception that New Zealand is back in business after Covid-19 is already working in Kiwi manufacturers' favour.
Australasia's largest stainless steel and specialty alloy fabricator is getting "significant" inquiry from the US for processing equipment for the food and beverage industries, says chief executive Mark Eglinton.
"This is a result of US food and dairy companies being concerned about the risk around the supply chain in the US and trying to de-risk it.
"We do see a real advantage for New Zealand manufacturers if New Zealand is seen as coming out of this quite quickly and is seen as being open for business."
Hamilton-headquartered NDA has six companies in New Zealand, Australia and North America, providing technology, engineering and stainless steel and specialty alloys for use in a range of industries including dairy, food, wine and beverage. Much of its work is in processed water and it supplies engineering and services to the chemical and gas industries, and is also a world leader in heat exchangers for industry.
The company traces its history back to 1894 in Hawera, Taranaki, as a co-operative for the primary sector, supplying everything from gumboots to tea leaves. By the 1950s it was focusing on manufacturing stainless steel for the dairy industry.
Today NDA employs 700 staff, including 200 in the US and 60 in Australia.
Revenue in the 2019 financial year was $200 million.
The business is 59 per cent owned by Pemba Capital Partners Fund, Sydney. Chairman and former managing director Gary Mollard holds 10 per cent, and management owns 10 per cent. Mollard led a management buyout of NDA in 1998 and Pemba Capital became a new investor in 2007.
Eglinton, who has been chief executive for 11 years, says the business operated at an average of about 15 per cent of capacity during Covid-19 level 4 lockdown, recovering to about 80 per cent in level 3.
No staff have been laid off.
NDA claimed a Covid-19 wage subsidy of around $1.5 million for the impact of level 4 on its engineering and sheetmetal businesses and all salaried staff took a 20 per cent cut in base salary for that period.
"The wage subsidy has been very effective because it's given companies like us an opportunity to pause, not to make any decisions on the go. We can make very considered decisions once we see what clients are doing," Eglinton says.
The business has responded to the Covid-19 crisis by shifting more sales and business development resources into overseas markets, encouraged by the offshore inquiry for engineering services and processing equipment.
Its US operations in Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas have continued to operate as essential services, as has its South Australia operation.
While buoyed by the overseas interest, Eglinton says the Covid-19 recovery challenge is just beginning.
New Zealand industries that NDA serves, such as food processing, dairy, wine and beer production are in a healthy economic state but they could delay scheduled projects so timing issues have to be worked through.
But the bigger challenge is with NDA's overseas projects, he says.
"We were commissioning a major cheese plant in Ireland and we had to bring the commissioning team home before the project was commissioned.
"We have a major industrial project in the Pacific islands and had to bring 25 people back from that project.
"So it's a matter of how we get those people back to complete those projects.
"Our biggest challenge is how to access those overseas markets and make some sensible decisions as to how much we can do on the ground and how much we can produce in New Zealand and get local companies to do installations under our guidance.
"How do you complete projects remotely if you can't travel? We're spending a lot of time on that issue in New Zealand and offshore."
Eglinton says future staffing is part of this focus.
NDA will keep all staff on through the initial 12-week subsidy period to the end of June.
"We are reviewing our capacity needs for the second half of the year, which presently has a lot of variables relating to customer activity levels and commitment timing of projects.
"Once we understand that we will be in a position to determine if we need to reduce capacity in the second half of the year," he says.
"Obviously we will be doing everything we can to avoid that, however if we do need to go down that path we will conduct an extensive consultation process."
By: Andrea Fox Herald business writer based in the Waikato Source: New Zealand Herald
New Zealand startup realityvirtual.co has just been awarded the sudden funding from American video game and software giant Epic Games, creators of the popular video game, Fortnite. The grant is just one of several large sums stemming from a whopping NZD$164 million (USD$100 million) fund for people doing amazing things with Unreal Engine.
Aotearoa Discovered: Imagine being able to visit the most beautiful and culturally significant locations in New Zealand and elsewhere, with your friends and family, without leaving the comfort of your living room. This is what NZ-based startup realityvirtual.co makes possible. Users will be immersed in photorealistic NZ scenes, interactively exploring them together in Virtual Reality (VR)
Project deepMIrror: In the age of covid-19, realityvirtual.co is repackaging and rapidly deploying their prior deep learning and volumetric video technologies into what can only be described as an extremely immersive one-on-one video conferencing experience. “One can describe the experience as being not too different from that of speaking between a sheet of glass, you're in their 3D space and they are in yours, you share not just eye contact but light itself. We feel this is a gift that me action immediately!” states Mr de Boer.
realityvirtual.co is one of only two NZ companies to win such an award. “Honestly. This brought me to tears, it’s been a hard many years for us struggling to make our case heard”, realityvirtual.co’s CEO Simon De Boer says referring to years of unique pioneering research and development in 4D, 5D.
realityvirtual.co is known for their immersive VR experiences from around the world, such as the Large Hadron Collider, and Queen Nefertari & King Tutankhamun's Tombs in Egypt. They won the prestigious Lumiere Award for best VR Educational Experience in 2020.
Founder and CEO Simon Che de Boer, the eccentric man at the helm, is an internationally renowned photogrammetrist and VR content creator. He has received international media recognition for the quality of his photo-realistic virtual experiences from Forbes, TechCrunch and other reputed publications featuring De Boer’s work. Many notable players of the Visual Effects (VFX) industry refer to such VR projects to demonstrate the potential of this new immersive medium.
This round of funding will be used to improve the process of making virtual copies, and allow them to upscale, or better render existing models of places and digitize many more beautiful NZ locations, including picturesque beaches, places of natural beauty and historic buildings including Saint Matthews Cathedral, Sir James Wallace Homestead, with a lot more is planned they are accepting suggestions from the public.
The experiences will be distributed for free on the ubiquitous games platform STEAM. Although current travel restrictions make it difficult for people to physically come to New Zealand, they will soon be able to be in the country virtually, and see it in a way that has never been experienced before.
The technology from realityvirtual.co relies heavily on deep learning, machine learning and the latest in mixed reality technologies. They are working closely with Epic Games, Amazon Web Services, NVIDIA and other parties, to make these technologies available to all.
Source: http://www.realityvirtual.co/
An American billionaire who lives in New Zealand has won consent to buy land north of Auckland for new golf course ventures.
Ric Kayne has already spent an estimated $100 million creating one of the world's top 10 golf courses and now his plans to spend another $50m-plus developing two new public courses have taken a step forward.
In January, American publication Golf Digest released its list of the world's best non-US courses, naming Tara Iti course at Te Arai, between Pakiri and Mangawhai, as the world's second-best after Northern Ireland's Royal County Down course.
Last week the Overseas Investment Office released approval for Te Arai Links to buy 169ha of sensitive land at Te Arai South, a beachfront site flanked by pine forests just over an hour north of Auckland. Of the 169ha, 144ha is leasehold and 25ha is freehold.
Kayne struck a deal with Ngati Manuhiri, who bought the Mangawhai south forest as part of their commercial redress under their Treaty of Waitangi settlement.
According to the OIO decision, Kayne plans to develop two links-style 18-hole championship level golf courses on the land, together with a clubhouse and visitor accommodation, as well as maintenance and water storage facilities. The land is now a pine plantation used for production forestry.
Kayne has previously said he wanted to build two public courses of similar quality to Tara Iti, which he completed in the adjacent Mangawhai north forest. That was also a project in which he partnered with a local iwi – in that case Te Uri o Hau – and with Queenstown investor and golf developer John Darby.
Former United States President Barack Obama played at Tata Iti in 2018.
Kayne told the Herald last March: "The goal is to create a significant recreational, economic and environmental asset for Auckland and New Zealand.
"Much of the 700ha Mangawhai south forest will be retained by Ngati Manuhiri. About 200ha is expected to be turned into a regional park in partnership with Auckland Council. That will include all the beachfront land and sensitive ecological areas. Kayne's Tara Iti includes major environmental enhancements such as a large-scale native revegetation programme and pest and weed control. That approach is expected to be replicated in this new project. The OIO decision says the benefits of allowing the business to buy the land include the creation of 40 permanent full-time roles, an increase in exports by at least $6m annually by the end of 2022, advancement of the New Zealand-Aotearoa Government Tourism Strategy and the introduction to New Zealand of at least $25m for development purposes.
A written history of the land shows that in 1993, Carter Holt Harvey was granted a long-term Crown forest licence for the north and south forests. Commercial pine plantations were originally established there by the Forest Service.
Public access to the forests was banned then and the privately-held pine plantations extended over the foredunes down to the high tide line of both the north and south beaches.
In 2000 the Crown included the freehold of the north and south forests as commercial redress land for settlement of Treaty claims. Two years later, a Crown deed of settlement was reached with Te Uri o Hau to transfer the freehold ownership of the north forest to a settlement trust.
John Darby said that a year later, the trust selected his Queenstown-headquartered landscape architects Darby Partners as its joint venture partner.
Later, the Te Arai south forest was included in Ngati Manuhiri Treaty settlement claim.
In 2004, a new comprehensive and sustainable land use plan for both forests was progressed with the two iwi settlement trusts. Darby said a key component of that plan was the creation and management of a coastal park extending the length of both forests either side of Te Arai Point.
That provided for reinstatement of the foreshore's natural character and improved public beach access and recreational opportunities, balanced with the protection and enhancement of endangered shorebird habitat.
In 2005 Darby Partners bought the lease over 754ha of the south forest on behalf of a pending joint venture with Ngati Manuhiri.
In 2009 Ngati Manuhiri signed an agreement for settlement of historic claims, and in 2012 its settlement trust bought the freehold land at Mangawhai South. A year later, it struck a joint venture with Darby Partners to plan and fund an integrated, sustainable land use plan for better economic, cultural and environmental outcomes.
By 2016, Auckland Council's Unitary Plan recognised the South Te Arai Special Precinct, based on the original integrated land use plan. That provides for:
• A new 180ha coastal park for public use • An extensive trail network over private land, linking reserves • Removal of pine plantations and revegetation with native species • Protection and enhancement of endangered shorebird habitat • 60 rural residential lots • Visitor facilities, amenities and accommodation including public campground • Two championship public links-style golf courses
The habitat of New Zealand's endangered fairy tern - or Tara Iti - is in the area. But Leigh Bull of consultancy Boffa Miskell, which consulted on plans for the land, said the terns were not where the two new golf courses were planned.
"The golf courses in the Te Arai south forest are located away from foraging and breeding habitats of the New Zealand fairy tern/Tara Iti. East coast New Zealand fairy tern breeding sites are all located north at Waipū, Mangawhai, Te Arai Stream and south at Pakiri of the Te Arai south forest," Bull said.
"There is no New Zealand fairy tern breeding at Poutawa Stream. The Te Arai stream at Te Arai North is also a well-known post-breeding flock site for east coast birds, which is not the case for the Poutawa Stream at Te Arai South. New Zealand fairy tern have been reported foraging at Spectacle and, to a lesser extent, Slipper lakes during their post-breeding period from December to March but not at Tomarata Lake," Bull said.
By: Anne Gibson
Property editor, NZ Herald
Auckland, New Zealand, 6 May 2020 – Microsoft Corp. today announced plans to establish its first datacenter region in New Zealand, a major milestone toward delivering enterprise-grade cloud services in the country. The New Zealand datacenter region will be the latest addition to Microsoft’s global datacenter footprint, which totals more than any other cloud provider at 60 regions announced, with Microsoft Azure available in over 140 countries around the world.
With the development of this new datacenter region, Microsoft aims to fuel new growth that will accelerate digital transformation opportunities across New Zealand. The company will also continue its investments in new solutions that support both New Zealand and Microsoft’s sustainability goals. In addition, Microsoft will add support for educational skilling programs to increase future employability opportunities for the people of New Zealand.
“This significant investment in New Zealand’s digital infrastructure is a testament to the remarkable spirit of New Zealand’s innovation and reflects how we’re pushing the boundaries of what is possible as a nation,” said Vanessa Sorenson, general manager, Microsoft New Zealand. “The Fletcher School’s Digital Evolution Index characterises New Zealand as a ‘standout nation’ demonstrating to the world what the future might look like. I’m confident this investment will help accelerate our digital evolution.”
Accelerating digital transformation in New Zealand
Through the development of the new region, public– and private–sector entities, large enterprises, and small and medium-size businesses will be able to use scalable, highly available and resilient public cloud services, while also helping companies meet their data residency, security and compliance needs.
Customers will have access to Microsoft’s cloud services, including:
While this new region will deliver local access to cloud services, New Zealand customers and partners are already benefitting from Microsoft’s global scale cloud services.
Source: Microsoft
StretchSense expands, acquiring renowned animation studio MocapNow to bring Hollywood the cutting edge hand motion capture it’s been desperately seeking. StretchSense, creators of the world’s first stretch sensor motion capture glove, today announced the acquisition of Seattle animation heavyweight MocapNow via a share swap completing several months of negotiation.
The acquisition cements the position of the company’s product, the MoCap Pro Glove, as the leading finger tracking device in North America. The MoCap Pro Glove is used by studios developing AAA rated games, feature films and new VR experiences to capture detailed finger movements that convey the fine nuance of an actor’s performance. While various hand mocap solutions have been around for a long time, there has not been a satisfactory solution to the problem of capturing a high level of accuracy without threatening the pipeline or increasing the complexity of a busy shoot. A massive spike in demand for in-home entertainment is placing pressure on studios to create more and better content. There is a strong need for expert motion capture support packaged with a production-ready hand capture product for studios navigating the post-COVID-19 world. Just as the combination of peanut butter and chocolate puts all other food pairings to shame, MocapNow’s hands-on game and film animation expertise combined with the MoCap Pro Glove’s unique, cutting-edge technology is a match made in heaven. Relationship Manager Ander Bergstrom: “ The challenge of digital performance is capturing and expressing the gesture and essence of the performer. StretchSense has met that challenge head on with their incredibly expressive and sensitive glove solution and I am proud to be part of this amazing team.” With a portfolio that includes some of the best and most important video games of the past decade along with several BAFTAs and Academy Awards, MocapNow’s Ander Bergstrom and CJ Markham have worked with every hand motion capture solution available and both are excited to be teaming up with the best in the market. Solutions Architect CJ Markham says “T he hand capture solution I’ve dreamt about for years is finally here. I’m excited to join the team that is bringing it to the world.” With the acquisition complete, the focus for StretchSense now is to expand its reach in North America, and provide its customers with close technical support with the help from its newly established team in Seattle. StretchSense CEO Ben O’Brien says “ I am super excited to have the MocapNow team on board. CJ and Ander are legends in the industry and as well as being great to work with, their decades of experience will directly improve our products and help our customers to create some truly amazing content.”
https://stretchsense.com/
IRVINE, Calif., April 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Protempo US Limited, a global consumer electronics distributor announced the completed acquisition of Outdoor Tech, a leading ruggedized consumer electronic and helmet audio company. The Outdoor Tech brand will contribute tremendous value to the Protempo product offering, providing for high-margin quality goods to be offered through Protempo's expansive sales and distribution network.
Gerry Fay, Protempo US CEO stated, "I have long been an admirer of the Outdoor Tech Brand. Their product design skills and unique brand has allowed them to quickly grow within both the consumer electronic and outdoor industry. There is much opportunity ahead for Outdoor Tech, particularly when combined with Protempo's vast resources and omnichannel network. We believe we are well positioned to develop Outdoor Tech into one of the largest action electronic brands globally."
Both US corporate headquarters, which are conveniently located in Southern California, have already begun to diligently work on a seamless transition and integration of their operations. In addition to added sales support, Protempo offers customer service, fulfillment and reverse logistic services. Protempo's additional resources will help the Outdoor Tech brand continue to flourish and gain market share.
"We are so excited to be part of the Protempo Family. Outdoor Tech has been searching for the right partner to expand their sales and distribution reach for their high-quality helmet audio kits, earbuds, headphones, speakers, power banks, chargers and cables. We have been successful at designing and producing unique consumer electronics in support of a healthy and active lifestyle. The acquisition by Protempo will allow the Outdoor Tech brand to flourish within Protempo's global network," said Charlie Gugliuzza, Outdoor Tech's CEO.
About ProtempoFounded in 2004, Protempo works with leading brands worldwide combining a single, integrated technology platform with global logistics infrastructure and an international sales force based in every major market to offer complete management of reverse logistics, refurbishment, remarketing and distribution of consumer electronics. Protempo delivers tailored customer solutions through a broad product and services portfolio. For more information, visit www.protempo.com .
About Outdoor TechFounded in 2010, Outdoor Tech® is an outdoor designer brand creating accessories for an action-filled lifestyle. Packing the world's most complete line of Bluetooth audio and power built for reveling in the open air and on the road, Outdoor Tech proves there is a way to stay connected but not tethered. For more on Outdoor Tech and the rest of its line including rugged portable power and the iconic Yowie® Logo apparel collection, visit www.outdoortech.com .
SOURCE Protempo US Limited
https://www.protempo.com/
International flights are still landing and taking off at Auckland Airport, but it’s cargo space in the belly of planes rather than passengers that’s providing a vital economic connection.
In the next four weeks, around 80 new flights of freight-only passenger planes are scheduled to land at Auckland Airport, in addition to the 20 dedicated freighters each week.
Flying with limited crew, the belly hold is filled with priority cargo, including medical supplies, pharmaceuticals and parcels coming into New Zealand and respiratory equipment and fresh produce heading back out overseas.
Air has been the transport of choice for high value, time-critical goods. From gifts, airmail and online shopping orders, through to precious metals and gems, artworks and horses. Before the widespread outbreak of COVID-19, 86% of New Zealand’s airfreight came through Auckland Airport.
This isn’t just about businesses in Auckland benefiting, said Scott Tasker, General Manager Aeronautical Commercial.
“The impact of well-functioning cargo connections flows right out into heartland New Zealand. Keeping our air cargo connections going to key international markets is really important and crucial for New Zealand’s economic fortunes – now and as the country works to rebuild from the impact of COVID-19.”
With the drastic fall in passenger numbers, airlines scrambled to reduce flights in order to preserve cashflow, he said.
“Those reductions have resulted in a massive cut in cargo capacity, from 25,000 tonnes in April 2019 to 15,500 tonnes in April 2020. If you take an average widebody plane, there’d generally have been around 320 passengers and 15 tonnes of cargo on board.
“There’s been a demand and supply issue, which has seen airfreight rates increase, but airlines have been quick at adapting to the changing market. What we’re seeing is our key airline partners converting to cargo-only flights using passenger aircraft or flights with limited numbers of passengers,” he said.
Currently Air New Zealand, Air China, Cathay Pacific, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Fiji Airways, Hainan Airlines and Korean Air are operating passenger aircraft with cargo-only loads to and from Auckland Airport.
Mr Tasker said maintaining bilateral airfreight connections to New Zealand would be an important part of our economic recovery.
“If we look back at figures from a couple of years ago, air freight accounted for $1 in every $5 of trade for New Zealand. At that time the average value of goods transported by sea was around $1,200 per metric tonne. In comparison, the value of air freighted exports was $87,000 per metric tonne.”
He said New Zealand’s airfreight exports are weighted towards primary products – seafood, fruit and prepared foods – products still being produced by an industry considered essential under the Level 4 alert.
“Air cargo connections mean high value products can be delivered into markets where they can attract premium prices and enable producers to capture demand opportunities.
“A great example of this would be the export of fresh crayfish into the Chinese market. It’s a consumer group who values fresh, natural products and are prepared to pay a premium meaning seafood companies can potentially make better margins without lifting their quota.
“And it’s something you’ll see repeated across a range of products. Fresh milk can be worth four times as much as the same volume of whole milk powder and twice as much as UHT. Only 1% of New Zealand’s beef and lamb exports travels by air, despite earning $10 per kilogram more than sea freighted product. Shifting a further 1% more onto airfreight would add $90 million to export earnings.
“If you go back to the example of the average widebody plane, annually it would deliver $200m in tourism value but $260m in export cargo. As a country, we’ve talked for a long time about moving from a commodity-based economy to one that delivers high-value or value-added products and airfreight is a critical part of that shift.”
Key cargo statistics:
Source: https://corporate.aucklandairport.co.nz/
The world's second-largest retailer has New Zealand clearance from an arm of the state to make its debut in this country with its first giant store.
The Overseas Investment Office has just announced it has given consent for Costco Wholesale New Zealand to buy land at Massey's Westgate in Auckland where the retailer will open its first store.
Costco, second only to Walmart globally, needed state consent here because the land it is buying is classified as sensitive. It applied to buy a freehold interest in 2.7ha of land at the corner of Maki St and Gunton Dr at Westgate near the Harvey Norman store.
It also needed consent because it plans to establish a business in this country where the expenditure involved exceeded $100m - the land purchase and the development of the giant new store with its fuel station, food court, pharmacy, hearing aid sales centre, etc.
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Source: NZ Herald
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