The private equity owner of the Hoyts cinema chain, one of the smaller exhibitors in New Zealand, is said to be planning a share float later in the year.

Pacific Equity Partners has also been reported to be considering a public share sale of its book retailing interests, Red Group Retail, which owns the Whitcoulls and Borders stores in New Zealand.

Australian news reports say PEP has invited several investments banks, including UBS, Macquarie and Goldman Sachs JBWere, to provide an initial market valuation of the business.

Former Fairfax boss David Kirk has swapped newspapers for movies, with his appointment as chairman of the Hoyts theatre group.

The appointment was revealed today by Hoyts director David Grayce and takes effect immediately.

Hoyts own and operates 45 cinemas with over 400 screens and more than 75,000 seats in Australasia, with eight cinema complexes in New Zealand.

Recently resigned Fairfax chief executive David Kirk joined the board of share broker Forsyth Barr as an independent director.

The Sydney-based former All Black captain was most recently chief executive and managing director of Fairfax Media, a position he held for three years, building the company’s market cap as high as $A9 billion.

Fairfax has appointed a surprise new chief executive of New Zealand operations following an executive clean out in recent months.

Allen Williams, currently the publisher of its community and regional newspapers in Illawarra & Hunter will take over the New Zealand branch of the company, replacing Joan Withers who announced her intentions to leave last week.

Her departure came after Fairfax chief executive David Kirk resigned, or as insiders claim was pushed out the door. His departure was swiftly followed by chief financial officer Sankar Narayan.