NZ investors throw cash across Ditch

Concentrated heavily in manufacturing and services, and weighted by the operations of such majors as Fonterra, Burns Philp and Carter Holt Harvey, the flow that in 2003-04 ran at A$1.554 billion confirmed New Zealand's position as the seventh-largest foreign investor in Australia.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says that in 2003 total two-way investment was A$56.7 billion and continues to trend upwards, with average annual growth estimated at 18.6 per cent since the start of closer economic relations in 1983.

New data from the Foreign Investment Review Board shows that in 2003-04, the number of investment proposals from New Zealand ran at a five-year high of 44, focussing mainly on manufacturing and tourism, but also embracing significant acquisitions in services, real estate and finance and insurance.

In the past five years, FIRB figures show, New Zealand has pumped an average of A$2.22 billion a year across the Tasman, peaking at A$4.119 billion in 2002-03 when Burns Philp acquired Goodman Fielder for about A$2 billion.

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