Overseas Investment Act 2005

Consent and conditions regime - When consent required and criteria for consent - Criteria for consent

18: Criteria for consent for overseas investments in significant business assets

You could also call this:

"Rules for overseas investors buying big New Zealand businesses"

When you want to invest in a significant business asset in New Zealand from overseas, there are criteria you must meet. You must pass the investor test. You also need to check if your investment is a transaction of national interest, and if so, the Minister must not have declined consent to it, you can learn more about this in section 20C. The Minister's decision is important for your investment to be approved.

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This page was last updated on 18 July 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM358029.

Topics:

Money and consumer rights > Banking and loansBusiness > Industry rulesGovernment and voting > Government departments

17: Factors for assessing benefit of overseas investments in sensitive land, or

"How the government decides if overseas investments in special New Zealand land are beneficial"

18A: Investor test, or

"Checking if you're a suitable person to own or control New Zealand assets"

Part 2Consent and conditions regime
When consent required and criteria for consent: Criteria for consent

18Criteria for consent for overseas investments in significant business assets

The criteria for an overseas investment in significant business assets are both of the following:
the investor test is met:
if the overseas investment in significant business assets is a transaction of national interest, the Minister has not declined consent to the transaction (see section 20C).

Notes

Section 18: replaced, on 22 March 2021, by section 14(2) of the Overseas Investment (Urgent Measures) Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 21).