Spark urged to reject ‘lowball' offer for stake in Aussie telco
Investment
2 mins to read
Spark urged to reject 'lowball' offer for stake in Aussie telco
Other shareholders say Spark would 'leave millions on the table' if it accepted the offer.
Spark's stake in Hutchison is worth about A$43m.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
6 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Oamaru businesses get makeover
Three Oamaru businesses have had a makeover as part of a city-centre revitalisation project. Thames St businesses Soul, Surf & Skate, Spark and Morcomm Systems Ltd have had the top level of their two-storey building facades painted. The makeover is part of the Central Oamaru Masterplan, the fourth in five community-led projects aimed at revitalising the town centre. Waitaki District Council community and economic development manager Mel Jones said the project was about protecting the heritage of the buildings and to generate more foot traffic. "Each building has undergone careful restoration and received a fresh coat of paint, adding colour and energy to the street while remaining true to its historic roots. "It is about how can we get more interest and more people into the CBD," she said. Mrs Jones said the facade improvement project was due to the efforts of many business owners and the council team that included Virginia Barlow (VBA Ltd), Kristina Lowe (McBrimar), Laura Byars (National Group), and council officers David Campbell and Chloe Searle. "The collaborative project with building owners was developed on the go and was about how do we build trust and move forward together," Mrs Jones said. She said in the "tough economic climate" it made sense to work collaboratively with business owners to make the budget go further and to encourage co-operation. "It's great they can all work together with different ideals, but it all blends together." Funding for the project has come from a combination of contributions by building owners, $15,000 from the Waitaki Heritage Fund, and the government's Better Off Funding. The next phase of the Facade Improvement community-led project is the repair and restoration of the building verandas and the installation of new signs. The final cost of the project will be known upon completion, Mrs Jones said. Painter Peter Keogh has been working with the business owners to help paint and restore the facades, she said. The MorComm Systems Ltd building was originally designed in 1879 by architect Thomas Forrester as a store for bookseller James Cagney. MorComm building co-owner Shirley Morris said they had "wanted to restore their building for some time but there had always been other priorities". "Working with the project team has been great. we were able to bounce ideas off each other and collaborate on things like shared scaffolding, which made the work easier and more cost-effective for everyone," Mrs Morris said. The online community reaction to the project has been divided, with some questioning whether the government Better Off funding could have been better spent on more vital services such as water, while other Oamaru residents were more positive about the upgrade. "These buildings look stunning, well done to the business owners," one person posted. Another said "the paint job is world class". Mrs Jones hoped the project would inspire other heritage building owners to consider facade renovations. Three other projects have been completed to date as part of the CBD revitalisation initiative, the Underland Artscape Trail Moa murals at Oamaru Creek; the lower Thames St streetscape pilot and a Heritage Building forum.
Otago Daily Times
12 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Facades restored as Oamaru businesses get makeover
Three Oamaru businesses have had a makeover as part of a city-centre revitalisation project. Thames St businesses Soul, Surf & Skate, Spark and Morcomm Systems Ltd have had the top level of their two-storey building facades painted. The makeover is part of the Central Oamaru Masterplan, the fourth in five community-led projects aimed at revitalising the town centre. Waitaki District Council community and economic development manager Mel Jones said the project was about protecting the heritage of the buildings and to generate more foot traffic. "Each building has undergone careful restoration and received a fresh coat of paint, adding colour and energy to the street while remaining true to its historic roots. "It is about how can we get more interest and more people into the CBD," she said. Mrs Jones said the facade improvement project was due to the efforts of many business owners and the council team that included Virginia Barlow (VBA Ltd), Kristina Lowe (McBrimar), Laura Byars (National Group), and council officers David Campbell and Chloe Searle. "The collaborative project with building owners was developed on the go and was about how do we build trust and move forward together," Mrs Jones said. She said in the "tough economic climate" it made sense to work collaboratively with business owners to make the budget go further and to encourage co-operation. "It's great they can all work together with different ideals, but it all blends together." Funding for the project has come from a combination of contributions by building owners, $15,000 from the Waitaki Heritage Fund, and the government's Better Off Funding. The next phase of the Facade Improvement community-led project is the repair and restoration of the building verandas and the installation of new signs. The final cost of the project will be known upon completion, Mrs Jones said. Painter Peter Keogh has been working with the business owners to help paint and restore the facades, she said. The MorComm Systems Ltd building was originally designed in 1879 by architect Thomas Forrester as a store for bookseller James Cagney. MorComm building co-owner Shirley Morris said they had "wanted to restore their building for some time but there had always been other priorities". "Working with the project team has been great. we were able to bounce ideas off each other and collaborate on things like shared scaffolding, which made the work easier and more cost-effective for everyone," Mrs Morris said. The online community reaction to the project has been divided, with some questioning whether the government Better Off funding could have been better spent on more vital services such as water, while other Oamaru residents were more positive about the upgrade. "These buildings look stunning, well done to the business owners," one person posted. Another said "the paint job is world class". Mrs Jones hoped the project would inspire other heritage building owners to consider facade renovations. Three other projects have been completed to date as part of the CBD revitalisation initiative, the Underland Artscape Trail Moa murals at Oamaru Creek; the lower Thames St streetscape pilot and a Heritage Building forum.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Widespread internet outages hits lower North Island
Photo: Downdetector/supplied Ultrafast broadband provider Chorus says internet services are back online after a major outage across the lower North Island on Friday morning. A spokesperson said one of the provider's core ethernet routers serving the Wellington region experienced a temporary outage. They apologised for the inconvenience and were investigating the issue's root cause. The outage left much of Wellington and parts of the lower North Island without internet for more than an hour. The fault started before 11am and was fixed about 12.30pm. "We can confirm that there is a Chorus fault impacting broadband services across all telecommunications providers in the Wellington region," internet provider Spark earlier told RNZ in a statement. "Spark apologises for the inconvenience this is causing customers. We are working with Chorus to ensure this issue is resolved as quickly as possible." Earlier, Voyager said it had identified an issue affecting "Chorus Wellington UFB (ultrafast broadband) handover". "This handover services Wellington, Kapiti, Hutt Valley, Palmerston North and through to Napier." Just after 12.30pm, Voyager said connections were starting to come back online, but users might need to restart their routers. Around 90 percent of connections were believed to be affected. Chorus was yet to respond to RNZ's requests for information. "My office is being kept updated on the situation," Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith said. Downdetector showed a large spike in outages at Spark, One NZ, Skinny, and 2Degrees among others. Chorus, Spark, and One NZ earlier said they were looking into the problems. There were numerous reports on social media of internet outages with businesses in central Wellington left with no internet connections. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
