Several suitors for Maling’s
By
NEVIN TOPP
Maling and Company, Ltd, the old-established Christchurch wine, spirits, and farm products business is being wooed by several prospective buyers.
It is believed that Maling’s has been the subject of three recent offers, the latest and first to be made public coming yesterday from Tauras Corporation, Ltd, an unlisted public investment group from Dunedin, which is offering $8 a share. A director of Mainstay Properties, Ltd, Mr John Egden, also announced yesterday that the Christchurch property company would probably launch a second take-over offer for Maling’s after its first offer, which was made before Christmas, lapsed on January 8 because of insufficient acceptances. “At present we are holding discussions with a view to resubmitting a bid,” he said. It is believed that another company has also lodged a bid.
It is also believed that the directors of Maling’s have also been giving some consideration to redeveloping the Gloucester Street site and moving the wine and spirits business to another location.
Redevelopment of Maling’s wine and spirits site at the comer of Oxford Terrace and Gloucester Street looks likely. The tenants of the building, which include the “Truth” office, the Canterbury - Westland branch of the New Zealand Journalists’ Union office, and two lawyers’ offices, have been warned that demolition is possible. Maling’s was started in Christchurch in 1873 by Thomas James Maling, the only son of Admiral T. J. Maling, who served in the Napoleonic Wars. The son came to New Zealand in 1862, and the following year married Rosa, the fourth daughter of Bishop Harper, the first Bishop of Christchurch.
The firm had its ups and downs, including going into liquidation in
1893. The business was reestablished in 1906, and Incorporated as a private company in 1908. Two years later the company was moved to its present site.
Tauras Corporation, made up of the clients of Forsyth, Barr and Company, the Dunedin sharebroker, is offering $8 for each Maling share, valuing the bid at SI.BM. Maling’s has 225,000 shares on issue and about 50 shareholders. The company has pre-emptive rights in its articles, which allow any shareholder wishing to sell Maling shares to offer them to other shareholders in the company first.
Maling’s has about 23 employees, dealing not only in wines and spirits, but also in farm products, including animal health products and stock foods. It has representatives throughout the South Island.
The company has been unlisted, except for the time that it had cumulative preference shares on the Stock Exchange boards from the late 1940 s until the mid-1960s when they were repaid.
The chairman of Tauras Corporation, Mr Eion Edgar, said in a statement yesterday that the formal take-over notice would be served qn Maling’s in the next few days.
The directors and advisers of Tauras Corporation had the skills to make better use of Maling’s property assets, he said. If the take-over offer was successful Tauras Corporation would want to examine the viability of Maling’s present trading being shifted to a more appropriate location. Tauras was a public, unlisted company with about 300 shareholders. It was floated in November. Its main trading asset is Mr Chips, Ltd, the Tau-ranga-based food processor.
Because of its share issue, Tauras was understood to have substantial cash resources and it had been studying several potential investments in New Zealand in recent months, Mr Edgar said.
The chairman of Maling’s, Mr Derek Banks, was unable to be contacted yesterday for his reaction to the Tauras offer.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19860130.2.103.1
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Press, 30 January 1986, Page 24
Word count
Tapeke kupu
582Several suitors for Maling’s Press, 30 January 1986, Page 24
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
Ngā mihi
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.