Watson loses right to Elders name

Eric Watson and Mark Hotchin have lost the battle to keep Elders as the name of the company that is the cornerstone of their financial services empire.

A three-sentence announcement yesterday from Elders Finance and the other Elders - rural services firm Elders New Zealand - confirmed the change.

The Business Herald reported in February last year that the rural services firm had gone to court alleging Watson and Hotchin's Hanover Group no longer had the right to use the name.

The joint statement shed no light on how the dispute was resolved.

It said: "The 'Elders' name is one that is used extensively in Australia and by Elders New Zealand Ltd and associated companies in connection with the New Zealand rural sector.

"It is in both parties' best interests that they are seen as unique and unrelated and are not confused with each other."

A separate statement from Hanover said Elders would change its name to Hanover Finance.

It said: "The name 'Hanover' is already familiar to our investors and offers an excellent strategic fit with the business."

At the rural services firm, managing director Stuart Chapman said the company was "delighted to be the only ones that will be trading with the Elders brand in the future".

The rural company is based in Newmarket, Auckland, and majority owned by Eric Spencer. The other shareholders are Chapman and Ian Wills.

Its business operations span livestock, merchandise, credit cards and finance.

Elders New Zealand went to the High Court at Auckland in February last year to seek an interim injunction to stop Hanover using the name.

At that time, Chapman said a temporary right, acquired when the antecedents of Hanover bought Elders Finance in late 1999, had expired.

Elders Australia - part of Futuris, a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange - was also a plaintiff when the court documents were filed.

Last year, Hanover Group chief executive Kerry Finnigan told the Business Herald the company had bought the Elders business four years earlier, including the brand, name and goodwill, with a restriction on Elders' use of the name..

He said the name dispute was a vendor attempt "to gain a commercial advantage for their own finance businesses by seeking to deprive us of the use of the Elders name".