Founder says Sistema 'worthy every penny' of $660m sale

Sistema founder Brendan Lindsay shunned the local market and instead opted to sell the company to a US investor. Photo / Greg Bowker

The founder of plastics manufacturer Sistema said the business is "worthy every penny" of the $660 million he sold it for.

"It's a lot of money I know that," Brendan Lindsay told NZHFocus today.

"It's worth every penny of it because this business is made in New Zealand, it will stay in New Zealand...it is such a good brand," he said.

Lindsay, who set up Sistema 34 years' ago, said he'd been up all night ringing suppliers and customers about the sale of the company to the US' Newell Brands.

"Most of them are really happy and pleased and excited," he said.

Lindsay said the company competed with cheaper overseas manufacturers by "giving consumers something different".

"No-one every regretted buying quality...we stick to our knitting, we just make plastic product and we only make here it in New Zealand. That is the key to success - we haven't tried to make pots and pans," he said.

Local analysts today said that the deal represented a lost opportunity for the local capital markets and for potential KiwiSaver investors, analysts said.

Lindsay said he never considered listing the company locally because he and his wife did not want the high profile that a float would have entailed.

"The reality is that listing on the stock exchange would mean I'd would have to stay on for many many years but more importantly it doesn't give Sistema the opportunity to grow in the American market and that's what I actually sold it for," he said.