UDC Finance Limited is a finance company in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. UDC's main expertise is now in providing asset-backed finance for plant, vehicles and equipment, where they do not rely on land or buildings as security. It is a subsidiary of

Shinsei Bank is a leading diversified Japanese financial institution that provides a full range of financial products and services to both institutional and individual customers. It is owned by SBI Group and headquartered in Chuo, Tokyo. History SBI Shins ...

History

UDC was founded in 1938 as Financial Services Limited by Dr Otto Simon Heymann. In May 1938 Financial Services was the organiser and sponsor of the flotation of Todd Motors Corporation. Government policy of the day prohibited the issue of new banking licences so Financial Services obtained registration as a moneylender in August 1938 and began investing in hire purchase contracts with a special interest in New Zealand's secondary industry. In order to establish international ties and better access to capital for New Zealand businesses

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

based banker United Dominions Trust was invited to purchase a shareholding. UDT took ownership of almost all Financial Services' capital in 1951. Financial Services was renamed United Dominions Corporation (South Pacific) Limited in 1954.Financing the Future for 70 Years
UDC Finance On one of his pastoral visits UDT's founder convinced national representative rower Alexander Ross, deputy-Governor of the

Reserve Bank of New Zealand The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ, mi, Te Pūtea Matua) is the central bank of New Zealand. It was established in 1934 and is constituted under the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989. The governor of the Reserve Bank is responsible for N ...

, to join him in London where Ross later became chairman of UDT. In his 18 years in London Ross shifted UDT's activities so in the 1970s the majority of UDT profit came from banking and industrial finance. This strategy to bring in foreign investment soon proved to have been a mistake. New Government regulations severely restricted expansion by foreign-owned companies. However the government partly relaxed its regulation of trading banks and finance houses in the 1960s allowing United Dominions Trust to sell 20% of its shares. UDC's own trading bankers, the

Bank of New Zealand Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) is one of New Zealand's big four banks and has been operating in the country since the first office was opened in Auckland in October 1861 followed shortly after by the first branch in Dunedin in December 1861. The ba ...

, did not take up the opportunity but elected to set up their own operation, BNZ Finance. The 20% shareholding was purchased by

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. It is Australia's second-largest bank by assets and fourth-largest bank by m ...

in 1965. In 1970 UDC sold its 80% interest in by floating and listing the company on the

NZX New Zealand's Exchange (), known commonly as the NZX, is the national stock exchange for New Zealand and a publicly owned company. NZX is the parent company of Smartshares, and Wealth Technologies. On 30 August 2020, the NZX had a total of ...

. ANZ became the major shareholder with 72%, taking full ownership in 1980 and delisting UDC from the NZX. An affiliate of the

HNA Group HNA Group Co., Ltd., is a Chinese conglomerate headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, China. Founded in 2000, it was involved in numerous industries including aviation, real estate, financial services, tourism, logistics, and more. It is a part owner ...

agreed to buy UDC in 2017. However the sale was not completed after the

Overseas Investment Office The Overseas Investment Office is the New Zealand government agency responsible for regulating foreign direct investment into New Zealand. The Office is responsible for high value investments (2006: NZD $100m+), investments in sensitive land an ...

refused to approve it, citing uncertainty over HNA's ownership structure. In March 2018 ANZ announced it was considering refloating UDC on the NZX, but later decided not to proceed with this. In June 2020

agreed terms to purchase UDC for NZ$762 million (US$480 million) making it Shinsei's biggest overseas acquisition to date. The sale was completed in September 2020.UDC Finance sale to Shinsei Bank completes
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group 1 September 2020

References

External links

Company website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Udc Finance Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Companies based in Auckland Financial services companies established in 1938 Financial services companies of New Zealand 1938 establishments in New Zealand