The Commerce Commission has cleared Carter Holt Harvey Limited to acquire the sawn timber business of Lakesawn Lumber Limited, which is a member of the Pedersen group of companies.

Commission Chair Paula Rebstock said that the Commission was satisfied that the proposed acquisition would not have, or would not be likely to have, the effect of substantially lessening competition in any of the relevant markets.

Carter Holt Harvey is a wood fibre products company, with business activities including the production of wood products, pulp and paper, packaging and building supplies. Carter Holt Harvey owns sawmills at Whangarei, Kawerau, Putaruru, Kopu, Rotorua (Rainbow) and Nelson, and is a large-scale producer of structural and industrial timber.

Pedersen is a wood products service group, and also carries on a saw milling operation at Taupo producing structural and industrial timber.

The Commission is also currently investigating Carter Holt Harvey's acquisition in December 2006 of TDC Sawmills Limited (TDC Sawmills) to determine whether the acquisition has had the effect of substantially lessening competition. That investigation is on-going.

A public version of the written decision for the Lakesawn acquisition will be available as soon as practicable on the Commission's website, www.comcom.govt.nz, under Public Registers.