Euro Corporation will defend Commerce Commission charges

Commerce Commission chairman Mark Berry faces as a fight as Auckland-based Euro Corp defends the charges laid against it. Photo/File.

Euro Corporation will defend charges laid by the Commerce Commission accusing the steel products maker and distributor of breaching the Fair Trading Act in the sale of a ductile steel mesh product.

Auckland-based Euro Corp said in a statement it will "vigorously contest" 59 charges relating to the sale of its SE615 ductile steel mesh between 2012 and 2015, after being served last week. The charges were filed on December 13.

Euro Corp agreed to stop selling the product in 2016 after the commission's initial testing found the steel mesh product didn't meet standard requirements to ensure it stretches during an earthquake, later reaching an agreement to resume sales and giving an enforceable undertaking to test mesh batches at an accredited lab.

The company was one of several steel products makers to face action from the Commerce Commission, including NZX-listed Steel & Tube Holdings which last year pleaded guilty to 24 charges of making false and misleading representations about its own products.

"Companies can sometimes make a commercial decision to roll over on such charges to avoid the time, cost and uncertainty of a trial," said Euro Corp chief executive Tim Thodey.

"But we won't be pushed into choosing the easy way over the right way. We will vigorously contest these charges."

Thodey stressed the charges don't allege the mesh products are deficient in any way, rather they "simply reflect the commission's idiosyncratic interpretation of the procedural requirements of the standard".

Companies Office filings show local private equity firm Maui Capital holds a 59 per cent stake in Euro Corp, having first invested in the firm in 2010 alongside the founding family who set up the business in 1994.