$2.85m Government loan provided to iwi as it eyes supermarket venture

Tuesday, 10 October 2023

Former PWC partner Tina Kilmister-Blue is not commenting on whether Britain’s Iceland Foods could be a partner for the Māori supermarket initiative.

Iwi may have already received some help from the Government as they weigh up building a new supermarket chain to challenge Countdown and Foodstuffs.

Waikato-Tainui received a $2.85 million loan from the Kānoa regional development fund run by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to “enable the Māori economy and food and beverage industry”, a Government spokesperson said.

Waikato-Tainui is leading an iwi effort to get a new supermarket business off the ground, with a view to establishing a chain with an initial 20 to 30 stores to take on the current supermarket duopoly.

The initiative is understood to be the brainchild of former PWC partner Tina Kilmister-Blue, who remains heavily involved in bringing it to fruition.

A source said Waikato-Tainui chairperson Tukoroirangi Morgan had held discussions with British supermarket giant Iceland Foods, with a view to it becoming a key supplier to the venture.

Kilmister-Blue declined comment and Waikato Tainui did not respond to a request for comment.

In the final days of the Labour government, former commerce minister Duncan Webb said Labour would back 'credible companies' wanting to enter the market (video first published October 12, 2023).

Iceland Foods has grown rapidly over the past few decades from a specialist retailer of frozen foods to a major food retailing chain that now operates more than 900 stores across the UK and another 40 in Europe, selling a broad range of frozen and packaged goods and limited selection of fresh food.

Labour commerce spokesperson Duncan Webb announced last week that a future Labour government could provide assistance, including government loans at sub-commercial rates, to new players in the supermarket industry.

To qualify for support, they would need to have a national proposal that looked like it could viably compete with the current duopoly, his spokesperson said.

The Kānoa-fund loan, which was approved by a group of five ministers who did not include Webb in June, was separate and unrelated to any support a future Labour government might provide to new groceries businesses as a result of last week's announcement, she said.

But some of that loan could have been used for work on that venture, she said.

“We welcome and encourage competition in the groceries sector, so if it is used towards that, then ‘great’.”

An MBIE spokesperson said she was unable to provide more information about the loan because of “ongoing commercial sensitivities around this project that cannot be disclosed at present”.

Waikato-Tainui has still not publicly acknowledged it is leading the supermarket venture.

National Party commerce spokesperson Andrew Bayly has also voiced encouragement for the iwi initiative, saying the party would welcome additional competition in the groceries market, but that it was unlikely any assistance it provided would include financial support.

Ngarimu Blair, a trustee of Auckland hapū Ngāti Whatua Orakei, has said that contrary to initial speculation it was not now involved in the venture, but wished it luck.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Tainui Group Holdings received the $2.85m loan from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise rather than Waikato Tainui. It was also Waikato Tainui that did not respond to a request for comment, not Tainui Group Holdings. (Amended at 12.23pm October 10, 2023)