private company industry wood products building supplies predecessor alex harvey industries carter holt holdings new zealand forest products founded 1986 founder francis carter robert holt alexander harvey headquarters auckland new zealand area served australasia key people graeme hart revenue nz 2 000 000 000 2015 approx . owner graeme hart number of employees 5 000 parent rank group investments limited divisions woodproducts new zealand woodproducts australia carters building supplies website www.chh.com carter holt harvey limited is a privately owned new zealand company controlled by rank group limited the corporate vehicle of the country s richest man graeme hart . based in auckland new zealand the company has three main divisions woodproducts new zealand and woodproducts australia which are both major australasian manufacturers of wood based building products ; and carters a new zealand chain of trade focused building supply stores . 1 history 1872 2005 edit the company traces its history back ultimately to three namesake companies . the first of these was robert holt & sons a napier based company founded in 1921 though robert holt s steam powered sawmill began operations in 1872 . 2 the second was carter consolidated whose sawmill ventures began under francis carter near levin in 1896 . 3 alex harvey & sons was the third with humble beginnings manufacturing milk churns in auckland . 4 on 1 april 1969 alex harvey & sons entered a three way merger with l.j. fisher co. ltd. a steel manufacturer 5 and the new zealand activities of australian consolidated industries a diversified conglomerate . the result was alex harvey industries a sprawling corporation encompassing operations in glass plastics steel wood and paper products . 4 meanwhile in 1971 the operations of sawmill company robert holt & sons and forestry and wood products focused carter consolidated merged to form a new zealand timber giant carter holt holdings . 6 sir richard carter a great grandson of carter consolidated s founder francis carter led the combined company . 3 in 1986 carter holt harvey was formed as industrial companies alex harvey industries and carter holt holdings merged resulting in one of new zealand s largest companies which continued to be led by sir francis carter . 3 the glass operations were divested to australian aci glass . 4 the combined company went on five years later to acquire the assets of far larger new zealand forest products which was the largest industrial undertaking in new zealand managing 200 000 hectares of forest land and annual sales of nz 200 000 000 in 1981 7 nearly nz 850 million in 2016 . 8 this made carter holt harvey by a comfortable margin the largest company in new zealand . however with chh burdened by debt from the massive purchase american international paper took the opportunity to purchase a 16 % stake that year . their stake gradually increased until a controlling interest of around 50.5 % was finally acquired in 1995 . 9 carter holt harvey was listed on the new zealand exchange with international paper as the controlling shareholder until 2005 . the company as of 2005 had over 10 000 staff forestry assets diversified wood pulp and paper manufacturing plants and retail operations across australasia as well as several chinese factories . they formerly were involved in consumer products with leading positions in the australasian market for tissues and paper towels under brands such as purex sorbent and handee ; nappies under the treasures brand ; and hygiene products such as libra pads and tena incontinence products under sancella a 50 50 joint venture with sca . the consumer operations with 2004 sales of approximately nz 765 million was sold to swedish svenska cellulosa aktiebolaget sca for nz 1 billion in 2004 . 10 the then fourth largest listed company in new zealand by market capitalisation was taken into private hands by rank group investments limited controlled by new zealand s richest man graeme hart . the lock in offer of nz 2.50 per share for international paper s 50.5 % stake valued it at around nz 1.65 billion with the company valued at approximately nz 3.5 billion . 11 carter holt harvey s last year in public ownership involved a 77 % drop in net profit which the company blamed on challenging trading conditions such as difficulties in export markets the strength of the new zealand dollar and rising freight costs . 12 the sale was completed that year and carter holt harvey entered a new era under private ownership . subsidiary of rank group 2005 present edit carter holt harvey has been significantly downsized since its reign as new zealand s largest company ended in the 1990s . the splitting of the company reached its heights under the control of graeme hart after 2005 . barely a year after being taken private 250 000 hectares of carter holt harvey s 290 000 hectares of forest land was sold to american forest manager hancock timber resource group controlled by canadian investment manager manulife financial . the forests with an estimated book value of nz 1.5 billion were located in northland auckland the central north island the hawke s bay and nelson . 13 its dairy farming and other properties were also sold separately for approximately nz 500 million . in 2014 carter holt harvey pulp & paper encompassing the australia and new zealand packaging business kinleith mill tasman mill and the penrose paper mill were sold to a japanese joint venture between the oji paper company one of the largest pulp and paper manufacturers in the world and the japanese government backed innovation network of japan incj . the new company name is oji fibre solutions . oji already had operations in new zealand with investments in hawke s bay forestry assets under the panpac forests name as far back as 1971 with over nz 180 million of investments into panpac since then including a major upgrade in 2012 . the nz 1.04 billion sale was announced at the end of april 2014 14 with the consortium taking full ownership of the assets in december that year . 15 an initial public offering on the new zealand exchange was tipped for carter holt harvey around april 2015 which at an estimated valuation of nz 1 billion would have made it the largest flotation on the nzx that year . 12 however weakness in the australian economy prompted carter holt harvey to put its listing plans on hold two months later with the company s board deciding they would not have the necessary levels of confidence required to accurately forecast the earnings outlook of its woodproducts australia division one of its three divisions . the australian newspaper instead speculated that the real reason the ipo was put on hold was to consider an offer by australian conglomerate wesfarmers and their subsidiary australasian hardware chain behemoth bunnings for chh s carters building supplies chain to consolidate bunnings position in building supplies across both consumer and trade markets . a spokesman for carter holt harvey when approached by fairfax media for the stuff online news site said that he would not comment on speculation . 16 operations today edit as of april 2015 carter holt harvey consists of three divisions woodproducts new zealand and woodproducts australia manufacturers of timber based building products estimated to have about 50 % of the structural timber market in new zealand and 30 % of australia s together with heavily trade focused building supplies chain carters with approximately 50 outlets operating in new zealand selling a wide range of products targeted at builders . the new zealand herald in an april 2015 article estimates carter holt harvey to have around 5 000 employees and an annual revenue of roughly nz 2 billion . it operates four milling sites in new zealand in tokoroa kawerau nelson and whangarei as well as two australian mills in yarram victoria and caboolture queensland and nine frame and truss plants . 12 17 it was ahead of a planned initial public offering in 2015 valued at potentially nz 1 billion which would not put what was formerly new zealand s largest company in the top 20 by market capitalisation today the smallest market capitalisation on the standard & poor s nzx20 index as of 2016 was approximately nz 1.5 billion . 18 brands edit carters building supplies futurebuild shadowclad ecoply laserframe pinex handiply references edit carter holt harvey home . www.chh.com . retrieved 2016 05 28 . taonga new zealand ministry for culture and heritage te manatu . holt robert . www.teara.govt.nz . retrieved 2016 05 28 . a b c adams christopher 2011 01 11 . timber magnate carter dies . new zealand herald . issn 1170 0777 . retrieved 2016 05 28 . a b c ahi alex harvey industry limited history . www.office2u.co.nz . retrieved 2016 05 28 . about gerard roofs gerard roofs . www.gerardroofs.co.nz . retrieved 2016 05 28 . carters trade leader pdf . trade leader 09.pdf . carters limited carter holt harvey . november 2009 . retrieved 28 may 2016 . taonga new zealand ministry for culture and heritage te manatu . new zealand forest products . www.teara.govt.nz . retrieved 2016 05 28 . inflation calculator reserve bank of new zealand . www.rbnz.govt.nz . retrieved 2016 05 28 . international paper company international paper to explore strategic options for its 50.5 percent stake in new zealand based carter holt harvey . investor.internationalpaper.com . retrieved 2016 05 28 . chh share price responds to sales surprise . new zealand herald . 2004 03 26 . issn 1170 0777 . retrieved 2016 05 28 . international paper company international paper agrees to sell its 50.5 percent carter holt harvey stake to rank group . investor.internationalpaper.com . retrieved 2016 05 28 . a b c hart s new zealand exit strategy . new zealand herald . 2015 04 18 . issn 1170 0777 . retrieved 2016 05 28 . hancock gets clearance to buy s forestry assets . new zealand herald . 2006 09 27 . issn 1170 0777 . retrieved 2016 05 28 . read ellen 2014 04 26 . japanese buy chh pulp paper business . stuff.co.nz . retrieved 2016 05 28 . rebranding kinleith . stuff . retrieved 2016 05 28 . carter holt s 1 billion float on hold . stuff . retrieved 2016 05 28 . chh australia site location & contact details . www.chhwoodproducts.com.au . retrieved 2016 05 28 . s & p nzx 20 index s & p dow jones indices . us.spindices.com . retrieved 2016 05 28 . external links edit carter holt harvey chh woodproducts new zealand timber lvl ply particleboard building products carter holt harvey woodproducts australia home v t e graeme hart rank group burns philp james burns robert philp carter holt harvey francis carter robert holt new zealand forest products david henry henry family of new zealand jack henry kinleith mill project crimson retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title carter holt harvey & oldid 743799619 categories manufacturing companies of australiacompanies of new zealandforest products companiesforestry in new zealandcompanies based in auckland1900 establishments in new zealandrenewable resource companies established in 1900 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 11 october 2016 at 09 49 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view