Warning spoils artist’s $6.3m sale
A French buyer has walked away from a Marlborough estate after officials said his application wasn’t likely to pass muster.
A heads-up from government agency bosses has led to the sale of a multimillion-dollar property being abandoned by an overseas buyer, its owner says.
New Zealand artist Mike Ponder has been left counting the cost after the sale of his $6.3 million, 122-hectare Waihopai Valley home in Marlborough was ditched by a French investor.
The conditional sale turned sour after the buyer pulled the plug, after having been told by the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) that the sale was unlikely to get the go-ahead.
Ponder, whose is well known for his iconic ‘‘stockman’’ art series, hit out at the decision, branding the situation as ‘‘bloody disgraceful’’.
‘‘All the initial reports were good that his people got. Then suddenly after nine months they [OIO] turn around and say that it won’t go through but they don’t give us a valid reason.’’
The OIO introduced new rules regarding the purchase of rural land by overseas investors in December 2017. The regulations stressed that ‘‘it’s a privilege for overseas people to own rural land’’ and raised the bar for future sales.
OIO staff received an application in July 2018 from the French investor to buy the Waihopai Valley property.
The agency expressed concern about the investment, saying it was unlikely to ‘‘substantially and identifiably benefit New Zealand’’, as was required for overseas investments in rural land.
But Ponder said he had been led to believe the sale had a good chance of going through and he had waited nine months for an answer.
The applicant had spent nearly $100,000 on reports and other services to support his investment application, Ponder said.
‘‘I think it’s obviously political and it’s typical of this bloody Government – just the way they treat people.’’
The OIO’s Land Information New Zealand group manager, Vanessa
Horne, said all overseas buyers had to apply for consent to buy ‘‘sensitive land’’.
‘‘The OIO did not decline this application. The applicant withdrew the application during the assessment process before the OIO made a recommendation,’’ she said.
‘‘After requesting and receiving further information to assist our application assessment, on 12 November the OIO wrote to the applicant’s lawyer to set out our concerns that the application was unlikely to meet the criteria for consent.
‘‘We gave the applicant the opportunity to provide further information to address our concerns. The applicant chose to withdraw the application on December 10, 2018.
‘‘The application was with the OIO for about 4 1⁄2 months – not nine months,’’ she said.
Ponder has now put the house up for auction.
Bayleys Marlborough agent Kurt Lindsay said the property, which has
a capital value of $6.23m, had attracted interest from buyers in New Zealand and overseas.
A French winegrower had intended to use the property, which has 30ha of planted sauvignon blanc and pinot noir vines, commercially.
There are also 50ha of grazing land, 40ha of pine forest, 300 olive trees and 70 walnut trees, as well as a three-bedroom cottage.
Lindsay said there was no ‘‘logical reason’’ for the sale not to be approved.
‘‘After some nine months of investigation – including several requests for additional information on the running of the business, the French vintner’s purchase request was surprisingly, and for no logical reason, declined by the Government agency,’’ he said.
‘‘It had all looked really positive at the start but then they turned around and made this decision.’’
An auction will be held on March 8 via Bayleys Marlborough.
‘‘The OIO did not decline this application. The applicant withdrew the application during the assessment process.’’
Vanessa Horne of the Overseas Investment Office