Hart sells local folding box business to Australian company

Graeme Hart. File Photo / Martin Sykes

Carter Holt Harvey, the pulp, paper and packaging company owned by New Zealand billionaire Graeme Hart, has sold its Australian and New Zealand folding box business to Australian packaging company Colorpak.

The acquisition gives Colorpak an entry into the New Zealand market as the business has a manufacturing operation in Auckland.

Hart has built a global beverage packaging business since buying Carter Holt Harvey from International Paper. This month his Reynolds Group Holdings Ltd sold US$3 billion ($3.9 billion) of notes in the second-largest offering of high-yield, high-risk corporate debt this year to fund the US$6 billion purchase of Pactiv Group.

Colorpak said it had an agreement with the Reynolds Group Whakatane Mill for the supply of folding carton board on competitive terms.

Carter Holt's folding carton business had five plants and 658 employees in Australia and New Zealand.

The acquisition will increase Colorpak's revenue from A$80 million to A$250 million ($104.65 million to $326 million) a year and it will increase earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by A$16.5 million a year.

"The synergies between our operations and those of CHH are obvious and will enable us to service clients with a fuller product and service offering," Colorpak managing director Alex Commins said.

"Our company has gone from strength to strength since floating in 2004, acquiring and integrating five businesses over the past 12 years and staying true to its vision to be the creators of the most outstanding packaging in Australia," he said.

The acquisition will be managed by the establishment of a dedicated integration team, led by Colorpak operations director Paul Commins. The integration process is expected to take two years.

- NZPA