New-look Crown unveiled

Press, 23 July 1986, Page 36

New-look Crown unveiled

By

SIMON LOUISSON

in Wellington A new look Crown Corporation, restructured as a food and fibre-market-ing body, was revealed in Wellington yesterday. Crown has been looking for a new direction since it was forced to divest itself of the major part of its trading activities — Dalgety Crown. At the time of the announcement of Dalgety’s merger with Wrightson NMA, the new chief executive, Mr John Hunn, said the emphasis would shift from primary production and servicing to marketing. Mr Hunn’s influence in the latest restructuring move is clearly evident not only in the marketing emphasis, but also in the venture-capital initiatives. The controlling hand at Crown seems to have shifted from the chairman, Sir Roderick Weir, who has been scaling down his activities, to Mr Hunn. The restructured company will see two new subsidiaries set up on the international trading side — Crown International, Ltd, and Crown Meat Export, Ltd — and Crown Vestures, Ltd on the investment side of the

group. Crown’s international marketing activities will be expanded so that it will earn more than S7OOM in export receipts next year — the equivalent to 5 per cent of New Zealand’s exports. This will place Crown behind Fletcher Challenge, the Dairy Board, and Waitaki/Wattie Industries as the nation’s leading exporters. Of this figure, Weddel Crown, the meat trading venture, which earlier this year bought the Vesty interests in New Zealand, will provide three-quar-ters of the exports. Crown Meats will take over the independent meat trading operations previously managed by Dalgety Crown. “The company will be one of New Zealand’s largest independent meat export houses, with an emphasis on boneless beef exports to the United States and Canada," said Mr Hunn. It is also a registered importer of beef to the United States which allows it direct access to users and distributors of imported beef, such as cruise liners. Crown Meat is the sole meat marketing agent of the Ne.w Zealand Meat

Marketing Corporation for sheepmeat to Peru. Crown International will export a wide range of wool, horticultural and seafood products as well as importing some foodstuffs into New Zealand. The company will be headed by Mr Terry McCloy, formerly New Zealand horticulture manager of Dalgety Crown. Crown International’s role is to develop the group’s exporting and importing activities. Kiwifruit and berry exports will take up a large proportion of its exports while lobster exports to the U.S. will initially be its main seafood export. Crown International will also have a large wool division which will export scoured slipe wool and greasy wool. The company will establish offices in Wellington, Auckland, Hastings, and the Bay of Plenty. . The .third initiative involves the establishment of Crown Vestures, Ltd, with an Initial capital of $lO million. : j The managing director, Mr Malcolm McDougall, will have a wide brief to invest in a broad crosssection of investment opportunities both in New Zealand and overseas. The company has - a small staff which again has drawn from' the; resources of the soon-to-be broken up Dalgety Crown. “The company wilL not be a passive investor but will seek through Input at board level, to contribute to the strategic directions and planning of companies it has invested in,” said Mr McDougall. .> The company will take equity positions of around 40 per cent, with the first announcement expected later this week. The company intends to balance . its investment portfolio between highrisk seed capital and medium-risk established businesses with more consistent cash flow. The company should be able to take advantage of other arms of the group — . notably Crown Finance, Ltd, and the cross-shareholding with Rada Corporation.