Overseas investment decision for case 201520103 - CSR Viridian (New Zealand) Limited

An overseas investment in sensitive land, being CSR Viridian (New Zealand) Limited’s acquisition of rights or interests in up to 100% of:

• Viridian Glass Limited Partnership (“VGLP”), which owns or controls a leasehold interest in approximately 0.6802 hectares of land at 7 and 9 Tokomaru Place and 20 Elms Street, Stoke, Nelson (the “Land”); and
• the shares in Viridian Glass GP Limited (“GPCo”), a New Zealand incorporated company, which acts as the general partner of VGLP, (the “Investment”).

CSR Viridian (New Zealand) Limited (“CSR NZ”) currently holds a 58% partnership interest in VGLP, with the remaining 42% partnership interest currently held by EGS Investments Limited (“EGS”):

• CSR NZ’s ultimate parent company is CSR Limited, an ASX-listed building products company, operating in Australia and New Zealand.
• EGS is a New Zealand incorporated company, unrelated to the CSR group (apart from arrangements relating to VGLP and GPCo).
• VGLP is in the business of importing, supplying, processing and installing glass products.

CSR NZ and EGS have been operating VGLP as a joint venture arrangement. As described above, the Investment involves the acquisition of EGS’s 42% interest. The Investment will therefore result in CSR NZ having full ownership and control of VGLP and GPCo.

The Investment will improve VGLP’s balance sheet position through the introduction of new capital by CSR NZ; this will assist VGLP to retain existing jobs. The Investment will also facilitate expenditure into VGLP’s information technology systems and related infrastructure.

The above initiatives will improve the ongoing viability of CSR NZ’s investment in VGLP. CSR NZ and other members of the CSR Group have also previously made investments which have been of benefit to New Zealand.

The Investment has satisfied the criteria in section 16 of the Overseas Investment Act 2005. The 'benefit to New Zealand' criterion was satisfied by particular reference to the following factors:

Overseas Investment Act 2005
17(2)(a)(i) – Jobs
17(2)(a)(v) – Additional investment for development purposes

Overseas Investment Regulations 2005
28(e) – Previous investments
28(g) – Enhance the viability of other investments