CHH will contribute $1.5 million to the Christchurch rebuild to settle a Commerce Commission lawsuit over the structural standard of one of its timber products.

The Australian packaging company Colorpak will go ahead with the purchase, which includes a Carter Holt Harvey plant in Auckland, after checking the books.

Graeme Hart’s Reynolds Group has sold $US1 billion in eight-year senior notes priced at 8.5% or 509 basis points over comparable US Treasuries, according to Thompson Reuters data.

The Auckland-based food and beverage packaging company announced last week the proceeds would be used to help fund the acquisition of the Evergreen Packaging group of companies and the Whakatane Mill from Carter Holt Harvey.

Both those companies are ultimately owned by Mr Hart.

This country’s richest man, Graeme Hart, wants to raise $US1.75 billion ($NZ2.46 billion) of new debt to help fund another round of consolidation of his global packaging empire, including the acquisition of Carter Holt Harvey’s Whakatane Mill.

If successful, Mr Hart’s Auckland-based Reynolds Group would boost its total indebtedness to $NZ8.37 billion against existing total assets of approximately $NZ8.24 billion.

Aside from the Whakatane paper mill, Reynolds Group Holdings also plans to buy the US-based Evergreen Packaging group of companies.