ANZCO Foods or simply ANZCO (formally ANZCO Foods Ltd and previously the Asian New Zealand Meat Company Limited) is a New Zealand meat producer fully owned by the Japanese company Itoham Foods, which in turn is part of Itoham Yonekyu Holdings. In 2016, ANZCO Foods was New Zealand's fifth-largest exporter, with a turnover of

NZ$ The New Zealand dollar ( mi, tāra o Aotearoa; sign: $, NZ$; code: NZD) is the official currency and legal tender of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency, Tokelau, and a British territory, the Pitcairn Islands. Within New Zea ...

1.5b, and 3,000 employees.

History

ANZCO started as a company in 1984 under the legal name Asian New Zealand Meat Company Limited owned through the

New Zealand Meat Producers Board The New Zealand Meat Board is a statutory body which provides quota management on behalf of the Crown for meat exports to the United States, European Union and United Kingdom. To protect their own livestock industry these countries give limited ac ...

by individual farmers and led by

Graeme Harrison Sir Graeme Thomas Harrison (born 13 November 1948) is a New Zealand business executive. He was the driving force behind ANZCO Foods, which is New Zealand's fifth-largest exporter. He was at the helm of ANZCO Foods for 34 years until his retireme ...

. In 1989, Itoham Foods and ANZCO formed a 50–50 partnership and founded Five Star Beef, a company that operates a

feedlot A feedlot or feed yard is a type of animal feeding operation (AFO) which is used in intensive animal farming, notably beef cattle, but also swine, horses, sheep, turkeys, chickens or ducks, prior to slaughter. Large beef feedlots are called conc ...

Wakanui Wakanui is a locality in the Ashburton District, New Zealand. The area is rural and close to the sea. Historically it is known as a grain-producing area. It holds New Zealand's largest feedlot, where Wakanui Beef is produced through intensive ...

near Ashburton; this is New Zealand's largest feedlot and mainly exports to Japan. In 1995, the ANZCO management team led a buy-out of the company from the Meat Producers Board, with Itoham Foods taking a 48.3% minority shareholding and another Japanese company,

Nissui , is a marine products company based in Japan. It had annual revenues of US$5.1 billion in 2014.Until November 30, 2022, the company name will be . The company was established in 1911, and is a commercial fishing and marine product procurement ...

(Nippon Suisan Kaisha Ltd), taking a smaller shareholding. Through that buy-out, the initial investment of NZ$350,000 returned over NZ$40m to the original owners. ANZCO Foods started operating under the new ownership arrangement on 17 August 1995. In 2015, founder Harrison announced that he intended to retire in the near future. This was accompanied by a restructure in shareholding. With approval from the

Overseas Investment Office The Overseas Investment Office is the New Zealand government agency responsible for regulating foreign direct investment into New Zealand. The Office is responsible for high value investments (2006: NZD $100m+), investments in sensitive land and ...

(OIO), Itoham Foods increased its shareholding from 48.3% to 65% and paid just over NZ$40m for these transactions. The seven smallest shareholders were all offered to sell. Harrison himself sold down from just over 20% to 14%. Nissui sold part of its stake at this point (which made up just over 50% of the share transfer) with the balance coming from New Zealand shareholders. In late 2017, Itoham Foods received OIO approval to become to sole owner by obtaining the remaining 35% shareholding. Nissui held 16.8% at that point, and Harrison and other managers held 18.2%. Itoham Foods is a subsidiary to Itoham Yonekyu Holdings. Itoham is publicly listed and 39% owned by the Mitsubishi Corporation. Harrison retired from the company after the March 2018 annual general meeting; he had been at the helm of the company for 34 years, first as managing director and then as chairperson.

Governance

Chairperson: * Eddie Tonks (?–2004) *Graeme Harrison (2004–2018) *Kazuhiko (Sam) Misonou (2018–present) Chief executives: *Graeme Harrison (1984–2004) *Mark Clarkson *Peter Conley (2017–present)

Land holdings

ANZCO Foods holds land in ten locations in New Zealand.

References

{{Reflist Articles containing video clips Companies based in Christchurch Agriculture companies of New Zealand Privately held companies of New Zealand New Zealand companies established in 1984 Agriculture companies established in 1984 2017 mergers and acquisitions