N.Z. Future Forest Products Ltd (NZFFP) has this week made a series of announcements about its future expansion plans. The company, which is focused on making sustainable New Zealand finished wood products one of the core export pillars of the New Zealand economy, was established by 35-year-old New Zealander David Henry upon his return to the country after 15 years working in Australia and the United Kingdom in the natural-resources investment management sector.
David Henry’s family has been involved with the New Zealand forestry industry for more than 150 years, dating back to 1860. As trees planted during the timberlands boom of the 1990s are harvested, NZFFP’s mission is to maximise their value to New Zealand by investing in value-added processing and technology to upskill workforces, improve productivity, and manufacture higher-value sustainable consumer products for growing export markets.
This includes manufacturing modular residential apartment buildings that are then flat-packed and containerised for both the export and domestic markets, improving export earnings for New Zealand and accelerating construction of new, cost-effective houses in New Zealand respectively.
NZFFP’s strategy is based on the acquisition of existing New Zealand wood processing businesses to develop the critical mass necessary to realise its vision for the industry and New Zealand. Its flagship project will be its greenfield engineered timber processing plant, which will be the only plant of its type in the Southern Hemisphere once constructed.
To that end, it is pleased to announce, it has completed its strategic transaction with North Sawn Lumber Ltd, which has production plants at Ruakaka and Tauranga. North Sawn has a highly regarded operations management team, produces high-quality finished products for the construction industry, has high Health and Safety standards and its sites are in close proximity to the deepwater Northport operation at Marsden Point and Port of Tauranga respectively.
NZFFP remains in the process of purchasing Claymark Group Holdings Ltd, which employs 600 people across six manufacturing sites in the Upper North Island. A third acquisition is already in progress, for announcement in due course, and further acquisitions are still being contemplated by the company.
NZFFP plans to increase the production, productivity and workforces of the companies it is acquiring. NZFFP is entirely financed by private equity, with initial capital coming from David Henry’s Kinleith Continuation LP. Additional capital is currently being committed, to be drawn as its acquisitions are completed, and will be announced in due course. NZFFP will always be majority New Zealand-owned, with a policy of capping any non-New Zealand investment to no more than a total of 24.9% in compliance with the Overseas Investment Act.
Source: Scoop
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