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Auckland firm Chequer Packaging has been placed in receivership just three years after being bought by a private equity consortium which included the ANZ Bank.
The company, which has about 400 staff, with plants in Auckland and Christchurch, is a manufacturer of "flexible packaging" including zip lock bags.
Chief executive Richard Anyon confirmed the company was in receivership but was unable to comment further.
Receiver Brendan Gibson of Ferrier Hodgson said he had been called in early this week. He was working on selling the business as a going concern. It is understood the company had struggled to compete against cheaper imported products.
Chequer was purchased from its founders Paul Halford and Rod Sullivan in 2004 by a private equity group comprising ANZ Private Equity, a fund associated with the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust, former head of operations for Gallagher Group Rob Booth, and five senior managers.
The price was believed to be about $60 million, most of it put up by ANZ Private Equity. At the time, it was ANZ's biggest New Zealand private equity deal.
ANZ declined to comment yesterday other than to say it was a minority shareholder in the firm. Company Office records show ANZ holds 80 per cent of the company's shares, with the remainder owned by Chequer directors David Ballantyne and John Keniry.
