UDC celebrates 75 years of financing the future
17 April 2013
UDC, the company that financed the first Masport motor mower and the first commercial Hamilton jet boat, celebrates its 75th anniversary today.
Current and former staff and customers will gather in Auckland tonight to celebrate the anniversary of the finance company that began life as Financial Services Ltd in the wake of the Great Depression in 1937.
“For 75 years UDC has financed the machinery that has built New Zealand,” said CEO Tessa Price. “Today is an opportunity to celebrate this milestone for UDC, but also to recognise the enormous achievements of our customers over the years.
“New Zealand’s hydro dams and highways were made with trucks and heavy plant financed by UDC. Generations of farmers have turned to UDC to finance the machinery that has made agriculture the foundation of what New Zealand is today.
“All of us at UDC are today enormously proud to be a part of growing this company and growing New Zealand.”
Ms Price said the key to UDC’s longevity through decades of economic, technological and political change has been its conservative and focused approach.
“The original idea behind the business was to provide industrial finance for New Zealand businesses, and it’s never deviated from that,” Ms Price said.
“We’ve stuck to a strategy providing asset-based finance to New Zealand businesses for buying plant, vehicles and equipment, and not relying on land, buildings and speculative property developments.
“Over the years we’ve built strong partnerships with New Zealand’s leading motor vehicle distributors. Today, we’re the leading provider of car finance in New Zealand.
“It’s been a privilege for everyone at UDC to have helped our customers through economic thick and thin, and to provide the finance to help them achieve great things.
“We’ve financed the machinery that built New Zealand. We’re all looking forward to financing the machinery that will build New Zealand’s future.”