At least three of Australasia's biggest names in business may be involved if NZ entrepreneur, Graeme Hart, should chose to take a tilt at Australian packaging giant, Amcor
Graeme Hart, New Zealand’s richest man who over the last year has taken control of Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) from International Paper via his privately owned Rank Group, is said to now be interested in acquiring a chunk of Australian-owned multinational packaging giant, Amcor. Speculation was rife on both sides of the Tasman this morning that Hart is weighing up his options, which include the acquisition of Amcor’s cartonboard business, failing which the Kiwi entrepreneur might launch a hostile takeover bid for the entire company, which could cost Hart as much as $7.55bn.
Writing in this morning’s Australian newspaper, columnist Michael West says Hart most is interested in acquiring the $700m Amcor fibre packaging business.
In the event of an acquisition, the resulting consolidation of the Amcor business with Hart’s own CHH corrugated business would result in substantial synergies and a reduction in costs that would help fight off low-cost imports, primarily from Asia.
Hart is understood to have a substantial war chest of cash available to him, including approximately $2.5bn in listed company, Burns Philp of which he controls 54 per cent.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Hart plans to sell most of CHH’s 290,000 hectare of forests for around $1.3bn.
In his article, West reckons that Hart could gather as much as $10bn in cash if needed with no shortage of individuals and institutions willing to fund an assault on Amcor if the Kiwi entrepreneur decided to take that path.
