Chinese approach over Waipa sawmill

A Hamilton businessman contesting ownership of the Waipa sawmill has admitted considering an approach from a buyer based in China.

However, John Zwiers denied claims by the mill's new owners that he hoped to sell the mill for $60 million to the Chinese buyer.

Zwiers said he had been approached by a potential investor, but considered the approach "nothing more than an opportunity to investigate".

Zwiers, who owns a timber processing plant at Orini, near Hamilton, is in a legal battle with the new owners of the mill.

It was announced two weeks ago that the mill, which employs more than 300 people in Rotorua, had been rescued from receivership, more than a year after being put up for sale.

Zwiers claims the new owners, Waikato businessmen Phil Verry and Gary Catley, reneged on a deal to join him in the purchase and then used his confidential information to gazump him. He has filed a statement of claim in the High Court at Auckland asking he be considered the rightful owner.

Verry said Zwiers was a "sore loser".

He said the reason he and Catley decided not to go ahead with the partnership was that Zwiers' plans were "amateurish" and "irrational".

He described the legal action as "very unsettling" for staff.

"For the record, we are committed to Waipa mill for the long haul. ," he said. " We are not fly-by-nighters.

Verry said he had not yet received details of the legal action but he would fight it.

He could not comment on Zwiers' claims that he and Catley had bought the mill for $1, as he had signed a confidentiality agreement regarding the purchase details.

- NZPA