New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
-based company controlled by Rank Group Limited, the corporate vehicle of the country's richest man,
Graeme Hart
Graeme Richard Hart (born 1955) is a New Zealand billionaire businessman and the country's wealthiest person.Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
, New Zealand, the company has three main divisions: Woodproducts New Zealand and Woodproducts Australia, which are both major
Australasia
Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...
wood
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...
-based building products; and Carters, a New Zealand chain of trade-focused building supply stores.
History (1872–2005)
The company traces its history back ultimately to three namesake companies. The first of these was Robert Holt & Sons, a Napier-based company founded in 1921 (though Robert Holt's steam-powered sawmill began operations in 1872). The second was Carter Consolidated, whose sawmill ventures began under Francis Carter near Levin in 1896. Alex Harvey & Sons was the third – with humble beginnings manufacturing
milk churn
A milk churn is a tall, conical or cylindrical container for the transportation of milk. It is sometimes referred to as a milk can.
History
The usage of the word 'churn' was retained for describing these containers, although they were not thems ...
s in Auckland.
On 1 April 1969, Alex Harvey & Sons entered a three-way merger with L.J. Fisher Co., Ltd., a steel roof tiles manufacturer, and the New Zealand activities of Australian Consolidated Industries, a diversified conglomerate. The result was Alex Harvey Industries – a sprawling corporation encompassing operations in glass, plastics, steel, wood and paper products. Meanwhile in 1971 the operations of sawmill company Robert Holt & Sons and forestry and wood-products focused Carter Consolidated merged to form a New Zealand timber giant, Carter Holt Holdings. Sir Richard Carter, a great-grandson of Carter Consolidated's founder Francis Carter, led the combined company.
In 1986, Carter Holt Harvey was formed as industrial companies Alex Harvey Industries and Carter Holt Holdings merged, resulting in one of New Zealand's largest companies – which continued to be led by Sir Francis Carter. The glass operations were divested to Australian ACI Glass. The combined company went on, five years later, to acquire the assets of far-larger New Zealand Forest Products, which was "the largest industrial undertaking in New Zealand" managing 200,000 hectares of forest land and annual sales of NZ$200,000,000 in 1981(nearly NZ$850 million in 2016). This made Carter Holt Harvey, by a comfortable margin, the largest company in New Zealand. However, with CHH burdened by debt from the massive purchase, American
International Paper
The International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 56,000 employees, and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.
History
The company was incorporated January 31 ...
took the opportunity to purchase a 16% stake that year. Their stake gradually increased until a controlling interest of around 50.5% was finally acquired in 1995.
Carter Holt Harvey was listed on the
New Zealand Exchange
New Zealand's Exchange (), known commonly as the NZX, is the national stock exchange for New Zealand and a publicly owned company. NZX is the parent company of Smartshares, and Wealth Technologies.
On 30 August 2020, the NZX had a total of 1 ...
with International Paper as the controlling shareholder until 2005. The company, as of 2005, had over 10,000 staff, forestry assets, diversified wood, pulp and paper manufacturing plants and retail operations across Australasia, as well as several Chinese factories. They formerly were involved in consumer products, with leading positions in the Australasian market for: tissues and paper towels, under brands such as Purex, Sorbent and Handee; nappies, under the Treasures brand; and hygiene products such as Libra pads and Tena incontinence products (under Sancella, a 50–50 joint-venture with
SCA
SCA may refer to:
Biology and health
* Sickle cell disease, also known as sickle cell anaemia
* Spinocerebellar ataxia, a neurological condition
* Statistical coupling analysis, a method to identify covarying pairs of amino acids in protein mult ...
). The consumer operations, with 2004 sales of approximately NZ$765 million, was sold to Swedish
Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget
Svenska Cellulosa AB (SCA, English: ''Swedish Cellulose Ltd.'') is a Swedish forest industry company with headquarters in Sundsvall.
SCA is the largest private forest owner in Europe. It owns 2.6 million hectares of forest in northern Swed ...
(SCA) for NZ$1 billion in 2004.
The then fourth-largest listed company in New Zealand by market capitalisation was taken into private hands by Rank Group Investments Limited, controlled by New Zealand's richest man,
Graeme Hart
Graeme Richard Hart (born 1955) is a New Zealand billionaire businessman and the country's wealthiest person. The sale was completed that year and Carter Holt Harvey entered a new era under private ownership.
Subsidiary of Rank Group (2005–present)
Carter Holt Harvey has been significantly downsized since its reign as New Zealand's largest company ended in the 1990s. The splitting of the company reached its heights under the control of Graeme Hart, after 2005. Barely a year after being taken private, 250,000 hectares of Carter Holt Harvey's 290,000 hectares of forest land was sold to American forest manager Hancock Timber Resource Group (controlled by Canadian investment manager
Manulife Financial
Manulife Financial Corporation (also known as Financière Manuvie in Quebec) is a Canadian multinational insurance company and financial services provider headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company operates in Canada and Asia as "Manulife" an ...
). The forests, with an estimated book value of NZ$1.5 billion, were located in Northland,
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
, the Central North Island, the
Hawke's Bay
Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...
and
Nelson
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
. Its dairy farming and other properties were also sold separately for approximately NZ$500 million.
In 2014, Carter Holt Harvey Pulp & Paper, encompassing the Australia and New Zealand packaging business,
Kinleith Mill
The Kinleith Mill is a pulp and paper plant located at Kinleith, Tokoroa, New Zealand. It is one of eight mills operating in the New Zealand pulp and paper industry. It is currently operated by Oji Fibre Solutions, formerly Carter Holt Harvey
K ...
,
Tasman Mill
The Tasman Mill site is a pulp and paper mill located on Fletcher Avenue just outside the town of Kawerau in New Zealand. The Tasman Mill site is the largest single employer in the Eastern Bay of Plenty region. Three pulp or paper companies pre ...
and the Penrose paper mill, were sold to a Japanese joint-venture between the
Oji Paper Company
is a Japanese manufacturer of paper products. In 2012 the company was the third largest company in the global forest, paper and packaging industry.
The company's stock is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the stock is constituent of the Ni ...
, one of the largest pulp and paper manufacturers in the world, and the Japanese government-backed Innovation Network of Japan (INCJ). The new company name is Oji Fibre Solutions. Oji already had operations in New Zealand, with investments in Hawke's Bay forestry assets under the PanPac Forests name as far back as 1971 (with over NZ$180 million of investments into PanPac since then, including a major upgrade in 2012). The NZ$1.04 billion sale was announced at the end of April 2014, with the consortium taking full ownership of the assets in December that year.
An initial public offering on the
New Zealand Exchange
New Zealand's Exchange (), known commonly as the NZX, is the national stock exchange for New Zealand and a publicly owned company. NZX is the parent company of Smartshares, and Wealth Technologies.
On 30 August 2020, the NZX had a total of 1 ...
was tipped for Carter Holt Harvey around April 2015, which, at an estimated valuation of NZ$1 billion, would have made it the largest flotation on the NZX that year. However, weakness in the Australian economy prompted Carter Holt Harvey to put its listing plans on hold two months later, with the company's board deciding they would not have "the necessary levels of confidence required" to accurately forecast the earnings outlook of its Woodproducts Australia division, one of its three divisions. ''
The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'' newspaper instead speculated that the real reason the IPO was put on hold was to consider an offer by Australian conglomerate
Wesfarmers
Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It has interests predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, operating in retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. With revenue o ...
and their subsidiary, Australasian hardware-chain behemoth
Bunnings
Bunnings Group Limited, trading as Bunnings Warehouse or Bunnings, is an Australian household hardware chain. The chain has been owned by Wesfarmers since 1994, and has stores in Australia and New Zealand.
Bunnings was founded in Perth, Wester ...
, for CHH's Carters building supplies chain to consolidate Bunnings' position in building supplies across both consumer and trade markets. A spokesman for Carter Holt Harvey, when approached by
Fairfax Media
Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The Sydney Morning Herald' ...
for the
Stuff
Stuff, stuffed, and stuffing may refer to:
*Physical matter
*General, unspecific things, or entities
Arts, media, and entertainment
Books
*''Stuff'' (1997), a novel by Joseph Connolly (author), Joseph Connolly
*''Stuff'' (2005), a book by Jere ...
online news site, said that he would not comment on speculation.
Operations today
As of April 2015, Carter Holt Harvey consists of three divisions – Woodproducts New Zealand and Woodproducts Australia, manufacturers of timber-based building products estimated to have about 50% of the structural timber market in New Zealand and 30% of Australia's – together with heavily trade-focused building supplies chain Carters, with approximately 50 outlets operating in New Zealand selling a wide range of products targeted at builders.
The New Zealand Herald
''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...
, in an April 2015 article, estimates Carter Holt Harvey to have around 5,000 employees and an annual revenue of roughly NZ$2 billion. It operates four milling sites in New Zealand – in
Tokoroa
Tokoroa ( mi, Te Kaokaoroa o Pātetere) is the fifth-largest town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand and largest settlement in the South Waikato District. Located 30 km southwest of Rotorua, close to the foot of the ...
,
Kawerau
Kawerau is a town in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is situated 100 km south-east of Tauranga and 58 km east of Rotorua. It is the seat of the Kawerau District Council, and the only town in Kawerau Distri ...
,
Nelson
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
and Whangarei – as well as two Australian mills, in
Yarram, Victoria
The township of Yarram (formerly Yarram Yarram) is in Victoria, Australia, in the Shire of Wellington, located in the southeast of Gippsland. At the , the population of the town was . The town is the regional centre of a prosperous farming distr ...
and
Caboolture, Queensland
Caboolture () is a town and suburb in Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Caboolture had a population of 26,433 people. It is located on the north side of the Caboolture River, which separates the town from Mora ...
, and nine frame and
truss
A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure.
In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...
plants. It was, ahead of a planned
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
in 2015, valued at potentially NZ$1 billion, which would not put what was formerly New Zealand's largest company in the top 20 by market capitalisation today (the smallest market capitalisation on the
Standard & Poor's
S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is con ...
/
NZX
New Zealand's Exchange (), known commonly as the NZX, is the national stock exchange for New Zealand and a publicly owned company. NZX is the parent company of Smartshares, and Wealth Technologies.
On 30 August 2020, the NZX had a total of ...
20 index as of 2016 was approximately NZ$1.5 billion).
Controversies
Alkyl Ammonium Chloride
Alkyl Ammonium Chloride (AAC) was developed by the Forest Research institute as a more environmentally friendly option to the Copper Chrome Arsenate (CCA) which was the preservative typically used to treat timber used in outdoor structures such as decks, sheds, barns, etc.
Approved by the Timber Preservation Authority it was used between 1979 and 1985 with Carter Holt Harvey its biggest user. Others were Pinex Timber Products Ltd (a subsidiary of CHH) and Prolog Industries Ltd (the processing branch of the state-owned New Zealand Forestry Corporation). Unfortunately once in use it was found to unsuitable for use with some timber failing within five years. Users of AAC lodged a total of $7.43 million in claims.
In November 1992, the New Zealand Government and the timber companies (including CHH) agreed essentially to equally share the costs of settling these claims.
Laserframe
In 2003 the company was found guilty by the Advertising Standards Complaints Board of misleading advertising over the previous two years over the effectiveness of its Laserframe timber used in building house frames. Laserframe is an untreated kiln-dried, chemical-free timber that the company claimed in a brochure performed similar to H1 treated pine timber. CHH collecting any outstanding brochures and destroyed them.
Shadowclad
In 2013 the Ministry of Education launched a legal action against a number of cladding manufacturers due to issues with building cladding allowing water to leak into school buildings.
Confidential settlements were subsequently reached with Australian manufacturers James Hardie and CSR, but Carter Holt Harvey fought to have most of the claim struck out as it was outside of 10-year limitation period set by the Building Act 2004. When this was rejected by the Supreme Court with costs being awarded against CHH, the case proceeded and is due to be heard in court in 2020.
The Ministry wants Carter Holt Harvey to pay all the costs associated with removing and replacing faulty Shadowclad cladding on approximately 800 buildings, with the estimated repair bill reported as being between NZ$1 billion and NZ$1.3b.
In 2014 the Fair Go television program found 24 property owners who believed they had been supplied faulty or substandard Shadowclad material. This led to a case action lead by lawyer Adina Thorn being filed in the Auckland High Court in 2016. The court action claimed at least NZ$40m in damages on behalf of 117 property owners.