2017 International Forest Industries Magazines May 2017 SHOW Special | Page 31

MPM Ad 04.2013_Layout 1 09/04/2013 19:50 Page 1
Tenon shareholders
support Clearwood
mill sale
Tenon shareholders back sale of
Taupo mill, winding up - Tenon
shareholders have overwhelmingly
backed plans to sell the firm’s
Taupo wood processing mill to a
consortium of US and New Zealand
investors and wind up the business
reports BusinessDesk via Scoop
News.
At a special meeting in Auckland, investors were
almost unanimous in their support of measures to sell
the Clearwood mill in Taupo to interests led by Tenon’s
controlling shareholder Rubicon for US$55 million,
which would then see two capital returns expected to
generate $2.12 per share for investors, followed by a
de-listing from the NZX and ultimate liquidation of the
business.
“If shareholders approve the resolutions put to
the meeting today, there can be no doubt that the
strategic review will have delivered considerable
value to our shareholders,” director Mark Eglinton
said in speech notes published to the stock exchange.
“More than US$125 million (including dividends)
will have been returned to shareholders, which will
equate to a total shareholder return in US dollars
of approximately 50 percent since we started the
strategic review process in 2015.”
Last November, shareholders approved the
US$100 million sale of the US operations to New
York-based buyout firm Blue Wolf Capital, allowing
the company to make a US$71 million capital return
via a share cancellation. The Rubicon-led purchase
of the Clearwood mill in Taupo trumped seven other
competing offers.
Rubicon owns about 60 percent of Tenon and
wasn’t allowed to vote on a component of the
transaction to approve the related party transaction,
nor the de-listing resolution.
Tenon started turning a profit in 2014 after more
than a decade of losses as the US home- building
sector began to recover, supporting demand for
its wood mouldings which it largely sold into the
world’s biggest economy via Home Depot outlets. The
company looked at other ways to cash in on the US
housing market, before attracting bidders when it ran
the ruler over its businesses.
The shares last traded at $2.05 and have gained
7.5 percent over the past 12 months.
Hall 25,
Booth J66
Booth
1556
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International Forest Industries | APRIL / MAY 2017 27