Plenty to celebrate as Nelson Forests ownership changes
01 Nov 18
Nelson Management Ltd (NML), the management company for Nelson Forests, has much to celebrate. Nelson Forests was recently acquired by Australian forest and timber processing company OneFortyOne (OFO) in a move that delighted NML’s management and the new owner alike and is already set to provide strong benefits to the Nelson Tasman and Marlborough communities.
“It’s not a marriage but it feels like a match made in heaven,” says Lees Seymour, Managing Director of NML. “OFO understand our business and our culture and values are very alike.”
Chair of the OFO Board of Directors John Gilleland was in Nelson and Blenheim in September to celebrate the purchase settlement with NML staff and community representatives.
“We want to be part of the local community,” says Gilleland. “It’s a wonderful forest and a wonderful mill. The trees will grow but everything else that happens is about the people. These are people who are leading the industry in terms of health and safety and innovation. OFO’s leadership team are innovators as well and they believe in this industry. Our investors believe in the asset and the community and their focus is on people and their governance will be in support of this business and of Lees as Managing Director.”
OneFortyOne acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their deep connections to land, water, and community. We pay our respect to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people today.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori communities have a strong spiritual connection between people and the land – the wellbeing of one sustains the wellbeing of the other. We strive to build meaningful relationships with iwi as tangata whenua (people of the land/region), to be responsible intergenerational kaitiaki (stewards/guardians) of the land where our forests grow.