[5] On 1 April 1969, Alex Harvey & Sons entered a three-way merger with LJ Fisher Co, a steel roof tiles manufacturer,[6] and the New Zealand activities of Australian Consolidated Industries, a diversified conglomerate.

The result was Alex Harvey Industries – a sprawling corporation encompassing operations in glass, plastics, steel, wood and paper products.

The company, as of 2005, had over 10,000 staff, forestry assets, diversified wood, pulp and paper manufacturing plants and retail operations across Australasia, as well as several Chinese factories.

[12] Carter Holt Harvey's last year in public ownership involved a 77% drop in net profit, which the company blamed on challenging trading conditions such as difficulties in export markets, the strength of the New Zealand dollar and rising freight costs.

The forests, with an estimated book value of NZ$1.5 billion, were located in Northland, Auckland, the Central North Island, the Hawke's Bay and Nelson.

[16] An initial public offering on the New Zealand Exchange was tipped for Carter Holt Harvey around April 2015, which, at an estimated valuation of NZ$1 billion, would have made it the largest flotation on the NZX that year.

A spokesman for Carter Holt Harvey, when approached by Fairfax Media for the Stuff online news site, said that he would not comment on speculation.

The New Zealand Herald, in an April 2015 article, estimates Carter Holt Harvey to have around 5,000 employees and an annual revenue of roughly NZ$2 billion.

[19] Alkyl Ammonium Chloride (AAC) was developed by the Forest Research institute as a more environmentally friendly option to the Copper Chrome Arsenate (CCA) which was the preservative typically used to treat timber used in outdoor structures such as decks, sheds, barns, etc.

[21] In November 1992, the New Zealand Government and the timber companies (including CHH) agreed essentially to equally share the costs of settling these claims.

Confidential settlements were subsequently reached with Australian manufacturers James Hardie and CSR, but Carter Holt Harvey fought to have most of the claim struck out as it was outside of 10-year limitation period set by the Building Act 2004.