Activities of German companies in New Zealand
Auckland, November 2014 - Brands such as Siemens, Bayer, BMW or Schenker are pretty familiar in New Zealand. Not so well
know are BayWa, Dekra and GEA. All three of them have established successful relationships with New Zealand companies.
BayWa completed its entry into the international fruit business in 2012 by acquiring the majority of Turners & Growers (T), a global exporter and producer of fresh fruit based in New Zealand. The T Group comprises 45 companies worldwide, with major subsidiaries ENZA, New Zealand's largest exporter with sales
operations in more than 60 countries, DELICA, and ENZA FOODS, a producer and seller of processed fruit and vegetables .
"This is the gateway to Asia for BayWa," says Harald Hamster-Egerer. He and Dr. Philipp Wahl were sent to New Zealand to
facilitate the integration into the BayWa group. Dr. Wahl serves as Chief Operating Officer and Hamster-Egerer as Chief
Financial Officer. In April 2014, BayWa took over the third largest apple producer in New Zealand, Apollo Apples Ltd., through T, which is waiting for its approval by the Overseas Investment Office (OIO). In 2013 Apollo marketed 1.4m tces of apples
at a sales value of approximately NZD 50m. "We want to become a world-leading fruit business", said Klaus Josef Lutz,
CEO of BayWa AG and Chairman of the Board at T The fruit business is one of the strategic growth areas of BayWa, whohave generated up to half of its sales of EUR 16
billion in 2013 in the international business.
By acquiring the majority of VTG Ltd. (Vehicle Testing Group) a year ago, German DEKRA SE has been systematically continuing its strategic internationalisation and the expansion of its core automotive business
unit outside Europe. It also has gained a stake into the important growth region, Asia-Pacific. VTG is the parent
company of the operational Vehicle Testing New Zealand Ltd. (VTNZ), the New Zealand market leader vehicle testing. VTNZ has a workforce of approximately 850 employees and 84 test stations nationwide and over EUR 50 million in annual sales.
In October 2014 VTNZ was named the best workplace in New Zealand in the "IBM Kenexa Best Workplaces Survey". "Right
after the final documents were signed in October 2013, we immediately started to organise the integration of our VTNZ
colleagues into the DEKRA world," says Peter Matthes, international project manager at DEKRA. The process was carried
out smoothly and successfully. Most recently VTG has been renamed to DEKRA New Zealand Limited. In 2013, sales for DEKRA
increased by 6.8% to EUR 2.3 billion.
The GEA Group, one of the largest suppliers of process technology with headquarters in Dusseldorf, has been active in New Zealand for
years. The group has expanded its expertise in the field of dairy farming through the acquisition of competent New
Zealand companies such as Milfos and Nu-Con. It is also one of the leading suppliers for dairy co-operative Fonterra. Three years ago, the GEA Group acquired Nu-Con Ltd., a leading supplier of components for powder treatment, with
headquarters in Auckland and a turnover of approximately EUR 27 million. A year later Hamilton-based Milfos group, a
leading designer and manufacturer of innovative dairy technologies, was integrated into the Group. The integration of
the kiwi companies into the GEA group had gone off without problems according to Clint Brown, Managing Director of GEA
in New Zealand. GEA has a market share of 60% in the New Zealand dairy industry and a staff of 300 employees, mainly New
Zealanders. Internationally the group employs 18,000 people and generated sales of EUR 4.3 billion in 2013. In New
Zealand GEA is one of the major business partners of Fonterra. The group will build Fonterra’s next large milk powder
plant.
Click here for further information on German companies in New Zealand.
ENDS