Accounts disclose that in July, after balance date, Tait agreed to purchase the assets of Seattle-based in-building wireless business McKinstry Essention. A purchase price was not disclosed.
Tait is an iconic New Zealand radio communications firm founded by Sir Angus Tait in 1969.
The company remains headquartered in Christchurch where it employs the majority of its more than 1500 employees, but it also runs offices in Australia, Brazil, Singapore and the United States.
Before Tait’s death in 2007 his shares in the company were given to the charity, the Tait Foundation, to – as the University of Canterbury put it – “ensure the business could not be sold”.
In 2018, the foundation sold 40% of the shares in Tait to competing Japanese electronics firm JVC Kenwood. While a purchase price was not disclosed, it was subject to Overseas Investment Office approval as the value of Tait’s assets exceeded $100m.
The sale was said to enable the proceeds to allow for international expansion and make inroads developing digital technologies.
Matt Nippert is an Auckland-based investigations reporter covering white-collar and transnational crimes and the intersection of politics and business. He has won more than a dozen awards for his journalism – including twice being named Reporter of the Year – and joined the Herald in 2014 after having spent the decade prior reporting for business newspapers and national magazines.
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