Hart adds mill to portfolio

New Zealand's richest man Graeme Hart has snapped up one of Whangarei's biggest businesses _ TDC Sawmills. Owners Tony and Clare Davies-Colley have sold their firm to Carter Holt Harvey, owned by the billionaire 's Rank Group.
Effective from next Friday, the shock sale adds substance to rumours that CHH has second thoughts about building a large mill employing 130 next to the company's LVL plant at Marsden Pt. Construction was expected to start several weeks ago.
Mrs Davies-Colley released a three-line statement yesterday afternoon in response to inquiries. She was aware of growing speculation but said CHH had imposed strict confidentiality conditions on the sale. The couple believed the change of ownership "would be good for everyone going forward". CHH would make no comment.
The couple established TDC Sawmills on a "greenfields" site off Port Rd in 1995. The mill employs 150 and includes a huge new automated sawmill on a hill-top site above the original plant. State-of-the-art technology has put TDC Sawmills ahead of any similar-sized operation in New Zealand. Only one operator is required to take the wood through the debarking and sawing process. At full capacity, the mill would produce 400,000 cubic metres of sawn timber annually.
TDC Sawmills has a $40m annual turnover and mainly supplies the domestic market, but has its sights set on China. It is one of six major Kiwi sawmillers supporting NZ Trade And Enterprise's new Wood Innovation Centre in Shanghai.
? Carter Holt Harvey, Australasia's biggest forest products conglomerate, owns about 50,000ha of commercial forest in Northland. It employs 6000 people in NZ. Graeme Hart is thought to be worth $2.75 billion.