The AFR has reported that Goldman Sachs is poised to take 50% stake for "several hundred million dollars" and that Goldman's head of Asian operations, Richard Gnodde, had been in Australia last week to hammer out details of the deal.

J B Were has made no comment on the report.

And then there were four
Just four candidates are in the running for three vacant board seats at Tower after two candidates pulled out.

Late last week former chairman Colin Beyer withdrew from the race saying he was not putting himself up for re-election. New candidate Derek Kirke also withdrew from that race.

In the running are; Tony Gibbs and Gary Weiss representing Tower's largest shareholder, GPG, Hutton Peacock and Don Baskerville.

Tower's annual meeting is on March 27.

Time running out
Time is running out to save money on your registration for this year's Financial Planners and Insurance Advisers Association annual convention.

The early bird special is due to finish at the end of this month (Friday).

BNZ takes the double
BNZ Investment Management has won the double adding the Morningstar Fund Manager of the Year award to the FundSource one it won late last year.

Other finalists for the top Morningstar award, announced on Saturday, were ANZ Investment Services and ING.

BNZ achieved a strong performance in the sector awards too, winning international shares and fixed interest and being a finalist in the New Zealand fixed interest, New Zealand/Australian equities and mortgages sectors.

Morningstar said BNZ's investment management team, which has been stable for several years, adds value by combining original analytical research with excellent risk management systems and disciplines. BNZ's style of equities management is biased towards value and other sectors are managed with clearly defined parameters.