NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

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 / New Zealand

East Coast's biggest employer gets $15 million Government loan

By Boris Jancic
Political reporter, NZ Herald·NZ Herald·
2 Oct, 2019 12:30 AM4 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

The announcements come as Shane Jones faces criticism over a pitch for votes at a forestry industry award dinner. Photo / John Stone

The announcements come as Shane Jones faces criticism over a pitch for votes at a forestry industry award dinner. Photo / John Stone

The Government has serious questions to answer about a $15 million loan it has given to the largest private employer on the East Coast, the Opposition says.

Regional Development Minister Shane Jones on Wednesday announced Gisborne-based salad company LeaderBrand would be getting a loan from the Government's $1-billion-a-year Provincial Growth Fund to help it build 30 hectares of greenhouses and allow production throughout the year.

The privately-owned business was set up in 1975 and has 370 employees in both growing and processing.

It has 3500ha in Gisborne, Matamata, Pukekohe and Canterbury and supplies both of New Zealand's major supermarket companies - Foodstuffs (behind New World and Pak'nSave) and Progressive Enterprises (Countdown) - along with sandwich chain Subway.

Jones said the greenhouses project would see the company employ another 50 staff when complete, along with providing environmental benefits that went along with indoor horticulture.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

READ MORE:
• Shane Jones forestry dispute: It's not about politics, it's about you says frustrated logger
• Shane Jones causes fireworks over 60th birthday bash
• Anger over Shane Jones speech to forestry industry: I showed you the money - now show me the votes

National Party regional development spokesman Chris Bishop the decision reflected a lack of transparency about how the PGF was making its decisions.

"It's obviously salad days for LeaderBrand, but you do have to wonder on behalf of the poor old taxpayer why a company that employers 400 FTEs and is the largest private-sector employer in Gisborne needs a $15m loan from the Government," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"There are plenty of other companies around New Zealand, there's tens of thousands of New Zealand companies who would like a sub-commercial loan from the Government. What Mr Jones never really explains is why companies he gives the loans to deserve the loans, compared to plenty of others."

The Government was desperate to get money out the door and was throwing money around "like confetti", Bishop said.

But Jones said other companies were free to put up bids for the funding if they had projects that would be "transformational".

"This is a loan and the loan obviously imposes considerable obligation on the company and with this infusion we are going to see a transformation in this type of horticulture," he said.

Discover more

New Zealand|politics

Jones to swot up on Cabinet manual during holiday after controversial forestry speech

30 Sep 05:07 AM
Opinion

Soper: Ardern impotent on NZ First's bad behaviour

30 Sep 05:00 PM
New Zealand|politics

Logger takes axe to Shane Jones over awards night conduct

01 Oct 04:34 AM

The conditions of the loan were commercially sensitive, he said.

"When a big entity ... has expansion plans and it has markets it wants to grow into, it's the kind of transformationalism that the ministers [in charge] are keen to take place."

National MP Chris Bishop says there's serious questions to answer about the loan. Photo / Mark Mitchell
National MP Chris Bishop says there's serious questions to answer about the loan. Photo / Mark Mitchell

LeaderBrand chief executive Richard Burke said the funding was a perfect fit for the PGF's goal to give the region long-term economic hope.

"We really saw it as a key to unlock the potential in this region, part of which we feel is unlocking the value of local businesses," he said.

"There's no point offering a whole lot of money to external companies to set up in Gisborne or in the region because generally they don't last. If you want real economic development, then supporting of local businesses is the best way to do it. We're here because we know how to do business here."

He declined to give further details about the deal, other than to say it was a "commercial loan".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"At the end of the day, we have to pay it back anyway … We're taking the financial very seriously," he said.

The plan would increase production, allow new crops to be used and reduce the amount of fertiliser being used.

The expansion had only been made feasible by the Provincial Growth Fund and it had not approached commercial lenders, he said.

It's the latest in a string of established private companies to receive loans from the Government fund.

The Government last year raised eyebrows after announcing it was loaning $9.9m to dairy co-operative Westland Milk Products, despite Treasury arguing against the offer.

The deal was cancelled after Westland was sold to Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group for $588m.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The Provincial Growth Fund also loaned $15m to a company intending to publicly list in Australia, including a $5m convertible loan that would becomes shares after the float. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12247627

The business, Geo40, at the time said without the funding it would have been looking at taking its work overseas.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Farm-to-forest conversions continue - report

12 Jun 09:33 PM
Politics

Luxon to see President Xi and President Trump in one week

12 Jun 09:28 PM
New Zealand

One dead in Waihi house fire

12 Jun 09:00 PM

It was just a stopover – 18 months later, they call it home

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Farm-to-forest conversions continue - report

Farm-to-forest conversions continue - report

12 Jun 09:33 PM

Close to 40,000ha of farms sold for forestry since September last year.

Luxon to see President Xi and President Trump in one week

Luxon to see President Xi and President Trump in one week

12 Jun 09:28 PM
One dead in Waihi house fire

One dead in Waihi house fire

12 Jun 09:00 PM
'Cleave my head open': Tenant allegedly breaks neighbour's ribs, charges another with machete

'Cleave my head open': Tenant allegedly breaks neighbour's ribs, charges another with machete

12 Jun 09:00 PM
The woman behind NZ’s first PAK’nSAVE
sponsored

The woman behind NZ’s first PAK’nSAVE

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
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • 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