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August 1997 decisions AUSDOC of Australia buys express freight subsidiaries from Freightways Express Freight Services Ltd, owned by AUSDOC International Pty Ltd of Australia, has approval to acquire nine subsidiaries of Freightways Ltd for “approximately“ $157 million. According to Reuters it is the biggest courier and express freight business in Aotearoa (Press, 8/8/97, “Freightways courier arm sold to Ausdoc”, p.25). The subsidiaries are:
The sale is part of the breakup of Freightways by its owner, Tappenden Holdings, which is headed by Alan Gibbs and Trevor Farmer. In July 1997 we reported three OIC decisions concerning its pallet hiring and manufacturing business (CHEP and TCP, sold to Brambles of Australia) and Armourguard security (sold to Tyco of the U.S.A.). The present decision concerns the core, and the remainder, of Freightways, which was put up for tender. It became a political issue because New Zealand Post was interested in buying the business to strengthen itself in preparation for the threatening deregulation of postal services, but was vetoed by Treasury. New Zealand Post had received Commerce Commission approval, subject to it reselling the competing company, New Zealand Document Exchange Ltd. New Zealand Post could afford the purchase, having debt of only 38% of assets in spite of paying the Government almost $200 million in dividends in the last two years. Apparently the Treasury principle of non-intervention in State Owned Enterprises doesn’t apply when intervention is required to prevent the SOE’s commercial success. The veto reportedly left only AUSDOC and Blue Star as bidders. (New Zealand Herald, 3/7/97, “Govt blocks bid by NZ post to expand”, p.D1.) AUSDOC’s business in Australia is document exchange and information management. The acquisition will be hard for it to swallow: AUSDOC has a market capitalisation of only about $145 million, which is less than what it is paying for the new companies. The takeover will be financed by an issue of $30 million in perpetual preference shares and a A$40 million rights issue and share placement. The Freightways division had gross revenues of about $160 million in the year to 31/3/97 (Press, 7/8/97, “NZ Post out of bid”, p.24; 8/8/97, “Freightways courier arm sold to Ausdoc”, p.25). Tribune Group of the U.S.A. buys Shortland from Wilson and Horton The Tribune Company of the U.S.A., which describes itself as “one of America’s leading media companies”, has approval to acquire Shortland Publications Ltd for a suppressed amount from its 100% owner, Wilson and Horton Ltd, which is 85% owned by Independent Newspapers Plc of Ireland and the U.K. Shortland, based in Auckland, specialises in educational books and other materials. It has a subsidiary, Shortland U.S.A., operating in Denver, Colorado, and also operates in the U.K. Wilson and Horton sold it because it was a “non-core asset”. Its new owner also owns the U.S. newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, and already is engaged in educational publishing (Press, 30/8/97, “Wil Hort sells educational division”, p.24). Kiwi Income Property buys further land on Mt Wellington Highway, Auckland Kiwi Income Property Ltd has approval to acquire nine hectares of land on Mt Wellington Highway, Auckland, for $20,000,000 for commercial leasing, through its subsidiary, Sylvia Park Ltd. The land, being sold by Sylvia Park Property Ltd and Sylvia Park Business Centre Ltd, is adjacent to land already owned by Kiwi Income Property Trust, for which Kiwi Income Property Ltd acts as agent and manager. The Trust “plans to commence an in-depth investigation” of the site with a view to “realising its development potential” over the next five to seven years. Kiwi Income Property Ltd is 50% owned by FCMI, a public company of Canada, and 50% owned by residents of Aotearoa. Kiwi Income Property Trust is a “New Zealand listed unit trust” which is “approximately 70 to 75% owned by New Zealand residents”. Calidore Group of the U.K. acquires Keystone Solutions Ltd Calidore Group Plc, a public listed company of the U.K. has approval to acquire Keystone Solutions Ltd for an amount that was initially suppressed. That amount was released in January 1998: £3,580,000. Keystone is a developer of software for legal and accountancy firms (Independent, 23-24/8/97). Calidore, which was founded by “two young whizz-kids, Damian Aspinall and Anton Bilton”, will change its name to Keystone (Daily Mail, 14-15/6/1997, Michael Walters; Sunday Telegraph, 13-14/9/97; ref: http://www.news-review.co.uk). The OIC claims that Calidore “has business experience and acumen” and “has considerable experience in operating and expanding smaller public companies”. Tourism Asset Holdings of Australia buys Novotel Wellington Tourism Asset Holdings Ltd of Australia, whose majority shareholder is AAPC Ltd of Australia, has approval to acquire AAPC Wellington Pty Ltd for $13,500,000. AAPC Wellington, owner of the Novotel Hotel in Wellington, is a wholly owned subsidiary of AAPC Ltd of Australia. In January 1997, we reported that Tourism Asset Holdings had acquired Novatel Auckland and Holiday Inn Queenstown. AAPC is part of the French group, Accor Asia Pacific. In 1993, Accor managed 2,098 hotels worldwide and more than 120 hotels in Australasia. It listed Tourism Asset Holdings early in 1996, retaining a 40% shareholding, with its own shareholders owning a further 20%. Property in The Strand, Parnell, Auckland, sold to Hong Kong resident for $10m Mr Lau Kwok Hung, a resident of Hong Kong and a citizen of Australia, has approval to acquire 155-165 The Strand, Parnell, Auckland, for $10,175,000. The vendor is Strand Investments Ltd.
Allied Foods buys four ha. of land in Otahuhu to rebuild Stormonts Bakery Allied Foods Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of Allied Foods (NZ) Ltd, which is in turn a subsidiary of George Weston Foods Ltd, a public company listed in Australia, has approval to acquire approximately four hectares of land at 638 Great South Road, Otahuhu, Auckland for $5,300,000. It will use the land to rebuild its Kingsland, Auckland, Stormont Bakery which was destroyed by fire in May 1997 and employs 135 full time staff. Allied and Goodman Fielder are estimated to have up to 85% of New Zealand flour milling sales and are the top two bread bakers following the exit of Defiance and the sale of its assets to Goodman. As part of its assent to this deal, the Commerce Commission forced Goodman to sell its Champion flour mill and retail packing plant in Christchurch to Allied (Press, 8/3/97, “Defiance Food sold to Goodman’s”, by Alan Williams, p.25). George Weston Foods is ultimately owned in the U.K. (Press, 18/6/97, “Goodman gets DFI go ahead”, p.27). From one U.S. transnational to another: Snorkel sold by Figgie to Omniquip Omnicorp International Inc, of Delaware, U.S.A., has approval to acquire Snorkle Elevating Work Platforms Ltd from Figgie International of the U.S.A. for US$15,000,000. The local Snorkel subsidiary is “primarily a manufacturer of elevating work platforms” based in Levin, Manawatu.
Retrospective approval for change of ownership of Universal Beef Packers Mystic Springs Investment Inc, a subsidiary of Wellroc Enterprises Ltd of Taiwan, has retrospective approval to acquire 86.58% of the shares of Universal Beef Packers Ltd and acquire a further 6.71% and control the appointment of its board. Universal Beef Packers is owned by Mr J. S. McMahon who holds the shares as trustee for Ton Cheng Min (82.64%), Willy Muh (5.953%), Gin-Shiang Lin (5.413%) and Chung Chien Chang (5.992%). McMahon also gets retrospective approval to acquire those shares and control the board of directors. The price paid is not given: all we are told is that it is “pursuant to an agreement”. Universal Beef Packers runs an abattoir on nine hectares of land in Te Kuiti, South Auckland, at which it employs “approximately 150 people”.
Sale of Hawkes Bay Orchard refused The sale of an orchard in Hawkes Bay by Meikle Farm Ltd, a subsidiary of Eastern Equities Corporation, to Patrick Arthur Wilcocks Sanders and Giselle Christine Mary Sanders, U.K. nationals resident in Malaysia, has been refused approval as “it was not considered to be in the national interest”.
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