O. F. Nelson, Ltd., Sold

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 240, 30 December 1927, Page 13

O. F. Nelson, Ltd., Sold

SAMOAN TRANSACTION

English Syndicate Pays £150,000

COMPETITION IN PACIFIC TRADE

IMPORTANT Pacific trading interests change hands with the sale, to an English syndicate, of the old-estab-lished business of O. F. Nelson, Ltd., of Samoa.

Hard on the heels of recent political developments, the transaction suggests a sensational sequel to the announcement of Mr. O. F. Nelson's deportation from Samoa, but the fact is that the negotiations for the sale had been in progress for the past year or two.

Y\7HEN Mr. Nelson was last in New Zealand, in July, he discussed with certain Auckland businessmen a proposition which would have turned the concern over to a Zealand syndicate, in which Auckland commercial interests would have been represented. It was this syndicate’s intention to compete actively with Morris, Hedstrom. Ltd., of Fiji and Sydney, and Burns, Philp, Ltd., of Sydney and London, for Pacific business from which New Zealand is at present virtually excluded by the operations of these two powerful concerns. NEW ZEALAND FORESTALLED The English syndicate, however, has forestalled the New Zealand enterprise, and to such purpose that a deposit has already been paid. It is believed that the price paid for the business was £150,000, and that Lever Brothers, millionaire English soap manufacturers, are interested in the purchase. The Nelson business, which has a paid-up capital of £150,000, all in the family, was founded toward the end of last century by the Hon. O. F. Nelson's father, a Swede who married a Samoan. The concern prospered,

and its interests covered all the com modities handled in the islands. Trad ing stations were establishes? on ai extensive scale throughout the group and at these depots copra and coco; were purchased front the planters Between the islands shipping service: have been maintained by the com pany, which owns its own plan tat ion i and wharves, and had several smal craft built in Auckland. WEALTHY TRADERS Nelson’s, Ltd., has offices in Auck land, Sydney and San Francisco, ant London agents, Messrs. Turnbull anc Co., through whom the sale of th: business was, it is understood, nego tiated. The Auckland office is man aged by Mr. F. R. Bentley, formerly with Morris, Hedstrom in Fiji. Mr. O. F. Nelson, reputed to be s very wealthy man. is one of the sev erai who have made money from trad ing in the islands. Sir Maynard Hed strom, of Fiji, is another wealthy mer chant, and Mr. A. G. Smyth, whose deportation from Apia has been or dered, is a man whose firm, Smyth anc Carruthers, wds very successful befor* quite recently', it was sold to Morris Hedstrom, Ltd.