Carter Holt pares back IPO plans

It's unclear whether the Carter Holt float, which could value the firm at up to $1 billion, will go ahead.

Carter Holt Harvey's on-again, off-again listing plans may be on again, although in a downscaled version incorporating only the New Zealand-based Carters building supplies distribution business.

Auckland-based Carter Holt, owned by Kiwi billionaire Graeme Hart's Rank Group, is considering an initial public offering of the Carters unit to list on the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges, it said in a statement today, adding that it would still retain a "significant stake" in the company.

It has scaled back earlier plans for an IPO, which would have included its New Zealand and Australian timber processing and building supplies businesses. That plan was put on hold in early June following what it said were changes in market conditions leading to uncertainty on the earnings outlook of the Australian timber business. The latest proposal incorporates just the Carters unit in New Zealand, which supplies the building trade with 50 distribution outlets and nine frame and truss sites across the country.

"This well-established national network puts Carters in a strong position to capitalise on the continuing strong demand for new housing," Carter Holt said in the statement. It didn't give an indication of the likely value of the unit, the size of the stake it planned to sell or when it planned to list.

Rank paid $3.31 billion for Carter Holt in 2006 and has since sold the company's forestry and farm land and its pulp and paper unit, leaving a smaller business focused on wood products and building supplies.

The joint lead managers for the planned offer are Credit Suisse, First NZ Capital, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Craigs and Forsyth Barr.