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UDC is New Zealand's leading finance company, providing asset
finance to New Zealanders for over 70 years.
UDC's main expertise is in providing "asset-based" finance for
plant, vehicle and equipment finance where we do not rely on land or
buildings as security. UDC also offers a range of investment
products such as Secure Term Investments and Call Accounts.
UDC Finance is a wholly owned, independently operated member of
the ANZ group of companies
(ANZ does not guarantee UDC's investments). Sharing ANZ's visions
and values, UDC is committed to excellent customer service and aims
to help individuals and businesses grow.
UDC's centralised processing and administration area is based in our Head Office,
however we have a number of regional account managers across New Zealand. Because we have
local representation we understand your unique business or
investment needs.
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The late 1930s was an inauspicious time to start a finance
company. Conceived in the late days of the Depression, followed
immediately by the Second World War, UDC could not be said to have
had an easy start. In fact, if any company gained bulletproof
survival skills, it was UDC! From the start, UDC could empathise
with its struggling customers - it was in the same position. UDC's
forbear, The New Zealand Investment Trust, was set up in 1938.
The dominant figure in the early days of UDC was Otto Heymann, a
German banker who came to New Zealand at the age of 50 after fleeing
Nazi Germany. He was an eminently qualified banker holding a PhD
from Heidelberg University, and being then the Deputy General
Manager of the Dresden Bank - the second largest of the big three
German banks at the time. He set about creating New Zealand's
finance company and in the process, establishing business principles
and standards that have survived through to the present day.
The company was known for financing innovation. UDC financed the
first jet boat designed for commercial use in the 1950s. Among the
many end users of the boats overseas, were tourist operations in the
Grand Canyon and Rhodesian police patrols along the Zambezi River.
In the early 1960s UDC financed the first two-way radio telephone
service - a boon for taxi companies, contractors and many other
businesses where mobile communication was essential. UDC was
approached frequently for large-scale development equipment and
financed virtually all the equipment for the development of the
Benmore Dam and the Haast Pass Highway. We also financed the huge
graders that built Wellington Airport, the Hunua Dam and the
motorway through the Ngauranga Gorge in Wellington.
We haven't just put our support behind the big infrastructure
projects though. UDC has given a financial helping hand to hundreds
of New Zealand's small to medium businesses over the years. Ten of
thousands of cars have been financed through UDC's accredited
dealers - we wonder just how many of them were that
never-to-be-forgotten "first car!"
UDC did not, however, accept all proposals put before it. Board
minutes from the 1950s recorded one such proposal ...
"Miss Wyllie attended the meeting and explained her plans for the
exploitation overseas of cosmetics made from thermal mud. Miss
Wyllie asked for financial assistance to investigate the value of
certain options held by her on access to mud deposits, or
alternatively, to secure the rights to mud deposits in Government
service." In retrospect, you could say that Miss Wyllie was some
decades ahead of her time, as selected New Zealand thermal mud is
indeed seen as a valuable beauty product.
In 1951, the company became known as United Dominions Corporation
(South Pacific) Limited under London-based United Dominions Trust
Ltd. As a foreign-owned company, its ability to expand was limited
by government regulation. In the 1960s the government relaxed
regulations of trading banks and finance houses, allowing United
Dominions Trust to sell 20% of its shares to ANZ Banking Group
Limited in 1965.
The climate in 1970 encouraged UDC, as a rapidly growing
foreign-owned company, to go public, thereby increasing local
involvement. A new company, UDC Group Holdings Limited was formed to
buy the shares in UDC Finance Ltd from United Dominion Trust. The
ANZ Bank issued its own shares to those groups in payment, taking a
stake in the company.
The relationship between ANZ and UDC continued to grow. In 1980,
ANZ bought all the shares in the company that it did not already
own; giving UDC shareholders ANZ shares in exchange. UDC then became
a wholly owned member of the ANZ group of companies and
was delisted from the stock exchange.
To this day, UDC has the rare distinction of never having
recorded a loss in its entire 60 plus years. This included the
immediate post-1987 share market crash period when property prices
slumped dangerously. The fundamental conservatism of the company was
a key reason it weathered this period while many of its competitors
disappeared.
Funding for UDC's finance operations comes in the main from the
issue of secured debenture stock so that UDC's 50,000 investment
clients are themselves investing in the growth of New Zealand.
UDC is proud to be known as "New Zealand's Finance Company" with
a reputation for sound financing and investment options and a
commitment to providing first class customer service.
For further information call 0800 500 832
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