CEO Q & A: Chris Joblin, Tainui Group

Tainui Group chief executive Chris Joblin.

Joblin was appointed chief executive in mid-August. But he originally joined the fast-growing business in 2009 as chief financial officer. He talks to Anne Gibson about the next phase of growth.

Why did you get the job?
Tainui wanted the best person with the skills for the job and that's me. I'm not Maori but obviously I know the tribe really well and enjoy working with the iwi. People want to work at TGH for that higher purpose, to see the benefits of success go back to the people and that's part of the reason why I enjoy working there.

Describe your background?
I'm from Gisborne originally and in my early 40s, married with two children. I went to Waikato University and studied accounting and finance, then worked for a council, then went overseas to work for a car dealership business, Pendragon, across the UK and North America. I was in the Sherwood Forest office. I decided to return and work for Affco, based at the Horotiu office, because New Zealand has an agricultural base. It's a really difficult industry but can be really fun as well.

What was the transition like from Tainui CFO to Tainui CEO?
My role was always very strategic. I formulated a lot of the strategy. Mike [Pohia] and I worked closely together. I'm a commercially focused person so I led the diversification strategy which has resulted in the decision to sell a stake in [retail asset] The Base.

Why has Tainui decided to reduce its property holdings?We have to safeguard the assets of the tribe, so we see in the long term the best way for us to do that is to have a broad range of diverse investments. We're property-centric, with around 80 per cent [in property] and that's a function of the assets we got under settlement. So we will move to a broader base of investments with more equities. We will focus on Australasian equities and appoint an independent manager to the portfolio. That will be announced this side of Christmas. We're also active in direct investment and we want to buy more businesses for economic return.

What type of businesses are you looking to buy?
Ones with shared values and strong management teams. We like agriculture and infrastructure. Our portfolio is property, the primary sector with fishing, farming and forestry, direct investments such as GoBus, shares, cash and fixed income, so we're re-populating the weighting.

How is the 480ha Ruakura inland freight and logistics project going?We lodged resource consent applications [for 78ha] with the Hamilton City Council in early October, so that was a momentous occasion, culminating in many years of work. It will take to close to Christmas before these will be issued and then that frees us up to start development in the New Year. The key thing for us is to secure anchor occupiers to the site, for example logistics businesses. If that is all successful, we will push some dirt around later next year. There is the potential to employ 10,000 to 12,000 people there. It's 5.5km long and over 1km wide so when you're standing in the middle of it, it's a very impressive piece of land.

What has Tainui Group Holdings done to benefit people?
We employ 3800 people in the businesses we own, for example at The Base, we employ 1800 directly and indirectly. In the last 10 years, we have spent nearly $500 million in the region so it's all regional economic development. The operational spending from all the companies we directly and indirectly own would be the better part of $2 billion over 10 years.

TGH has distributed well north of $100 million over eight or so years but closer to $150 million since its inception. That goes to help people get education, some of the kaumatua get hearing aids and glasses and to help maintain community facilities at the marae. So when you think about what we are bringing to the community, we try to keep a low profile but there's a lot going on that we're associated with. This all benefits the community.