Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Kiwi flavour entices investors

By David Porter
NZME. regionals·
31 Mar, 2016 06:30 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Guy Royal (left) with Sean Paul, chief executive of Ejido Verde and Te Taru White. Mr White generated strong interest in forestry venture TTW from potential investors at a New York conference.

Guy Royal (left) with Sean Paul, chief executive of Ejido Verde and Te Taru White. Mr White generated strong interest in forestry venture TTW from potential investors at a New York conference.

Rotorua-based Maori plantation forestry investment venture Toitu Te Waonui (TTW) made a significant step forward this month when it generated a positive reception from international timberland investors at a conference in New York.

Director Te Taru White stunned the 150 delegates, with a collective $2.92 trillion in their pockets, with his mihi, focused presentation, waiata and haka, said forestry consultant Dennis Neilson of DANA, which co-organised the conference with US-based RISI.

In an unsolicited response to TTW's presentation, RISI's US director, international timber, Robert Flynn emailed Mr White, saying: "As someone who has helped to organise too many conferences to number, and sat through countless presentations on forestry and forest investment, I sincerely hope you won't dismiss my appraisal as casual flattery: Yours was the single most impressive presentation I've ever had the honour to enjoy."

Mr Neilson described the TTW venture as the most promising NZ forest land expansion project for decades.

TTW aims to provide Maori landowners with a commercial forestry model under which international and some domestic investors will finance the afforestation, but will eventually sell to the iwi landowners. The venture's Wellington-based lawyer Guy Royal, who took part in the New York presentation, said TTW had spent two years evaluating suitable land.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We've identified 100,000 hectares across New Zealand," said Mr Royal. "The launchpad is 30,000ha roughly divided into thirds across three regions, Rotorua/Bay of Plenty, Northland, and Whanganui/Taranaki."

Most of the land holdings were underused, but many were adjacent to forested land.

Mr Royal said the initiative arose out of discussion by iwi leaders concerned at the closure of mills and the effect on their communities. They discussed buying a mill, but decided it made more sense to build up a controlled supply of wood, then drive value-add activity. The venture has been set up as a trust, and structured to keep management costs down.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"This was very focused from the outset to be a commercial model to put in front of Maori land owners." (See story below)

TTW ended up with a dozen meetings in New York off the back of the conference and came away with five potential investors.

TTW sponsor Mike King, who is managing director of Rotorua's Interpine Forestry, said the New York visit had been an important step forward.

"Sometimes you can be moving along believing you're doing the right thing, but not quite knowing how to measure yourself until you're confronted with these situations and find people are queuing up and saying, 'hey we want to talk to you guys'."

Discover more

NZ Post job cuts shock to union

30 Mar 03:00 AM

Local firms join forces to create Expo jobs hub

30 Mar 06:00 AM

Angels win chance to be at the table in Philly

30 Mar 06:30 AM

Coming up:

* New Zealand Forest Wood Processing Sector Seminar & Conference

* Organiser: DANA

* Where: Rotorua

* Date: August 29-30, 2016

* Includes: Field trip to sawmills and forests

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty TimesUpdated

Substation fault cuts power to thousands in Tauranga

11 Jul 03:01 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Theatre stalwart's triumphant return after PTSD recovery

11 Jul 02:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Moments are priceless': Silver Ferns stars reunite for TV reality show

11 Jul 12:00 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Substation fault cuts power to thousands in Tauranga

Substation fault cuts power to thousands in Tauranga

11 Jul 03:01 AM

Power was cut to 21,529 customers at 12.30pm in Tauranga.

Theatre stalwart's triumphant return after PTSD recovery

Theatre stalwart's triumphant return after PTSD recovery

11 Jul 02:00 AM
'Moments are priceless': Silver Ferns stars reunite for TV reality show

'Moments are priceless': Silver Ferns stars reunite for TV reality show

11 Jul 12:00 AM
Home-schooled students ride 755km to Parliament for equal sports access

Home-schooled students ride 755km to Parliament for equal sports access

10 Jul 11:07 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP