Fletcher now has all consents

Press, 18 March 1983, Page 10

Fletcher now has all consents

The last regulatory consent for Fletcher Challenge, Ltd. to purchase the 84 per cent Crown Zellerbach shareholding in Crown Zellerbach Canada had now been received, the Fletcher Challenge chairman and chief executive, Mr R. R. Trotter, said yesterday.

Mr Trotter said that he had received approval from the Minister of Forests of British Columbia, Mr Tom Waterland, for the transfer of forest licences covering 399,999 hectares (988,000 acres). The transaction would be settled on March 31 and an offer for the 16 per cent Canadian public shareholding would be made in the near future, he said.

“Because of the importance of Crown Zellerbach timber sales in the United States, we’ve been hear.tened recently by the com-

ment of Mr Malcolm Baldridge, the United States’ Secretary of Commerce, that 1983 housing starts in his country should reach 1.5 million units, a 42 per cent increase over 1982,’’ Mr Trotter said. “I've not seen the February figures yet but the January housing starts rose sharply by 36 per cent over the previous month and were 96 per cent above U.S. starts in January, 1982.

“I’m told that the U.S. Government’s expectation is that the increases will continue into the March quarter,” he said. “Within the same area, it has also been significant that the International Trade Administration (ITA), a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce, has announced that Canadian lumber is not subsidised and a duty on it is not warranted,”

Mr Trotter said. “Although ITA is still to make further inquiries, it seems as if the threat of a United States import duty has been removed.’’ Mr Trotter said that after the last official approvals for the Canadian purchase, Mr E- D. Andrews, corporate planning director of Fletcher Challenge, would be appointed vice-president, planning of Crown Zellerbach Canada. Messrs Trotter, H.A. Fletcher, managing director of Fletcher Challenge, and L. C. Ryan, deputy managing director, would be appointed Crown Zellerbach directors.

Other Fletcher Challenge appointments would be: M. S. Hood, to corporate planning director, B. D. Cooper, as corporate treasurer, and G.S.A. Hamilton, as corporate new business director.