New Zealand Forest Products

Kinleith Mill and Processing Complex, Tokoroa, New Zealand

New Zealand Forest Products Headquarters, Penrose, Auckland

New Zealand Forest Products (NZFP) was New Zealand's largest industrial company from its creation (following the consolidation of the New Zealand timbermilling sector) in 1936 until the privatisation of state-owned Telecom New Zealand in 1990. Sir David Henry KBE was responsible for negotiations on behalf of the Henry Family that saw the creation of New Zealand Forest Products.

The company continued to expand following World War II and was a large-scale manufacturer of structural timber, board and other packaging products. Following the construction of the Kinleith Mill at Tokoroa in 1953, NZFP became a substantial manufacturer of pulp and paper products. The company owned some 250,000 hectares of forestry plantations, with a further 300,000 hectares under long-term Crown leases from the New Zealand Government.

Another member of the family, Jack Henry, was the Director of the Kinleith Division and the Forests Division. He pioneered new methods in silviculture which saw the company achieve major efficiency gains that turned NZFP into one of the largest forestry companies globally. He was the last Henry to sit on the board of NZFP retiring in 1986 as corporate raiders circled.

Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, NZFP was the target of several takeover attempts including a joint bid by Goodman Fielder (the Australian/New Zealand flour miller) and Watties Industries (the New Zealand canned food manufacturer) given its strong asset profile. This joint bid failed, but was soon followed by another unsuccessful $1.9 billion bid by Fletcher Challenge in 1985. NZFP was successful in defending itself against these local corporations, however, in 1986 the company was finally acquired by the Australian conglomerate Elders Resources, a subsidiary of Elders IXL (the vehicle of Australian corporate raider, John Elliot). Elliot mounted a successful hostile takeover that valued the company at $3.0 billion and the company became known post-acquisition as Elders NZFP Corporation.

Following a bitter battle over the bid, the Henry family agreed to sell to the Australian raider and this effectively ended the Henry family's 110 years of involvement in New Zealand industry.

The assets of NZFP continue to operate to this day. Following the collapse of Elders NZFP in 1988 following the stockmarket crash, the assets were purchased by Carter Holt Harvey (CHH), another smaller New Zealand forestry company. The purchase of the NZFP assets tripled the size of CHH and boosted its revenues by 60% to top NZ$7.0 billion, then a record for any New Zealand company.

See also

• Forestry in New Zealand
• Project Crimson, a conservation programme set up and initially sponsored by New Zealand Forest Products

References

• New Zealand Forest Products - Healy, B. (1982) A Hundred Million Trees: The story of New Zealand Forest Products Auckland