Bryan Todd (New Zealand)
Encyclopedia
Bryan James Todd was one of four brothers who built one of New Zealand's biggest industrial and commercial enterprises. He was an important figure in the development of the New Zealand oil and gas energy industry and, incidentally, in the development of New Zealand tax law.
, Otago
in 1902. His grandfather was Charles Todd (1834-1892), a Scottish immigrant who had arrive in New Zealand with his wife, Mary O'Sullivan, in 1870. Charles worked at wool-scouring in Milton
and gold-mining at Table Hill, Blue Spur
and then Bendigo, all in Otago
. In 1884, Charles commenced a fellmongery
business at Heriot, Otago. The Todd Group was commenced in Heriot when Bryan Todd's father, also named Charles Todd
(1868-1942), from 1888 expanded the fellmongery into a successful stock and station business. He imported the district's first car in 1908 and in 1913 established a garage which later expanded into the Todd Motor Company. Bryan Todd commenced his primary education at the local Heriot School. In February 1915 Charles Todd, his wife Mary Hegarty and their seven children (Charles Patrick (CP), Desmond, Kathleen
, Moyra, Bryan, Andrew
and Sheila) shifted to Dunedin
where Bryan Todd attended the Christian Brothers School
. When he was older he was sent to Sydney to board at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview.
had moved to Wellington to run a new Petone
plant assembling Hillman
and Humber
cars and commercial vehicles. The Mitsubishi franchise was acquired in 1970 when planning for New Zealand's biggest assembly plant was under way and in 1975 Todd Park was opened at Porirua
. Bryan Todd set the scene for the group's later diversification into a range of interests - which included oil distribution, refining, and exploration, natural gas, forestry, finance, aviation, ironsands export, and land and property development - when a 1929 Petrol price war in Christchurch saw supplies cut off to the Todd garages because the petrol companies were setting up their own tied garages selling only their own petroleum products. Bryan Todd decided expanding world sources had created an opportunity for a fourth company to market petroleum products in New Zealand. In August 1931 the Associated Motorists' Petrol Company (AMPCO) was formed with the support of automobile clubs with his father Charles Todd as chairman. AMPCO marketed its products under the name "Europa Oil". By March 1933 bulk terminals had been built, a national retail network established and Europa petrol was on sale. Europa Marketing and Europa Refining were sold to British Petroleum in 1972, The group's participation in the oil business did not end with the sale of Europa. In 1954 it had acquired prospecting licences in the North and South Islands and entered joint venture exploration agreements with Shell and BP in 1955, 1956 and 1961. The consortium's successes included the Kapuni
onshore field in 1959 and in 1969 the Maui
off-shore gas-condensate field . The Todd group continues to be involved in these and other gas-condesate projects such as the Pohokura gas discovery in 2000 in which Todd has a 26% share. However, Bryan Todd's dream of a major New Zealand oil discovery has never been fulfilled.
to acquire petroleum products. That company did not give Europa any reduction on "posted prices
". However, an arrangement was entered into under which the two companies established a refining company in the Bahamas known as Pan Eastern Refining Company. It purchased crude oil from Gulf at the standard posted price, arranged to have the oil refined by Gulf at one of its refineries, for a fee of 47.5c per barrel, and sold the refined petrol to Europa and the other products ("heavy ends") to Gulf, all at the current posted prices for those products. Depending on various factors, Pan Eastern made a profit of 50c for every barrel of crude oil refined, or about 5c for every gallon of petrol Europa purchased. This profit was shared between Gulf and Europa. Under New Zealand tax law dividends from Pan Eastern Refining were not counted as income of Europa itself; tax was only levied on Europa's dividends to its shareholders. However, the New Zealand Tax Department
(Inland Revenue Department) ruled that the arrangements amounted to a discount off the posted price Europa paid for its supplies from Gulf, its taxable profit was therefore correspondingly greater than had been declared by Europa, and its taxable income was therefore increased accordingly for all the tax years 1959-1965. The extra tax demanded from Europa was over £
NZ2,000,000. The Inland Revenue considered that the Pan Eastern arrangement amounted to an evasion of tax. Europa disputed this. After hearings in the High Court and the Court of Appeal the issue went to the Privy Council (at that time New Zealand's highest court) which decided in the Inland Revenue's favour (in a split 3-2 decision). In 1971, on the basis of the Privy Council decision, the Inland Revenue claimed the extra tax and accrued penalties in respect of the tax years 1959-1965 (a total of $NZ6,714,829.34) which was paid, and also claimed for the tax years 1966-1971 (the latter years were not part of the case). Europa objected in respect of the years 1966-1971. After High Court and Court of Appeal decisions, that matter ended up again before the Privy Council. This time the Privy Council (split 4-1) decided for Europa Oil accepting that the arrangements for 1965-1971 were different from those for 1959-1965 (a new company, Todd refining, had been interposed and had the obligation to purchase from Pan Eastern, Europa itself had no obligation to buy any product from Todd Refining, and the Privy Council did not go behind the corporate veil to look at the reality of Todd family ownership interest in these entities) and that this led to a different conclusion. Europa received a tax refund of $NZ4,000,000. "Bryan [Todd] and his team ... had carried on the fight through 13 years and six court hearings". "As Bryan [Todd] was fond of quoting, 'The meek and the humble of heart shall inherit the earth. But the strong and the brave are the ones you put your money on!'".
ski fields on Mt Ruapehu, and listed shooting, sailing and golf as other interests. A Wellington city councillor from 1941 till 1946 and airport committee chairman from 1943 till 1946, Bryan Todd privately and anonymously supported many charities as well as publicly chairing the Todd Charitable Trust established in 1960 and the Todd Foundation which followed in 1972. Both bodies give annual support to medical research, youth organisations, cultural and educational groups, the elderly, disabled and handicapped and other worthy causes. Bryan Todd was knighted in 1976 for services to industry and commerce.
, a rich Canterbury
run-holder. Buddo, whose station
was at Fernside, Rangiora, was one of Canterbury's best-known farmer-politicians of the Liberal era
. Bryan Todd died on 29 May 1987. He was survived by his wife and three daughters.
Early life
Todd was born in HeriotHeriot, New Zealand
Heriot is a small settlement in West Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It is located 20 kilometres southwest of Raes Junction and 15 kilometres north of Tapanui....
, Otago
Otago
Otago is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. The region covers an area of approximately making it the country's second largest region. The population of Otago is...
in 1902. His grandfather was Charles Todd (1834-1892), a Scottish immigrant who had arrive in New Zealand with his wife, Mary O'Sullivan, in 1870. Charles worked at wool-scouring in Milton
Milton, New Zealand
Milton is a town of 2,000 people, located on State Highway 1, 50 kilometres to the south of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand. It lies on the floodplain of the Tokomairiro River, one branch of which loops past the north and south ends of the town...
and gold-mining at Table Hill, Blue Spur
Blue Spur
In New Zealand there are two geographic areas called Blue Spur.The first one is situated close to the Westland District Capital of Hokitika. It stretches from the Tasman Sea in the west about eastwards towards the area of Humphreys and the Blue Spur Range. It can be accessed by road along the...
and then Bendigo, all in Otago
Otago
Otago is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. The region covers an area of approximately making it the country's second largest region. The population of Otago is...
. In 1884, Charles commenced a fellmongery
Fellmonger
A fellmonger was a dealer in hides or skins, particularly sheepskins, who might also prepare skins for tanning. The name is derived from the Old English ‘fell’ meaning skins and ‘monger’ meaning dealer...
business at Heriot, Otago. The Todd Group was commenced in Heriot when Bryan Todd's father, also named Charles Todd
Charles Todd (New Zealand)
Charles Todd , fellmonger, wool-scourer, motor car importer and assembler, petrol importer and retailer, industrialist and community leader; he was a leading New Zealand businessman and was a principal founder of the Todd Corporation-References:...
(1868-1942), from 1888 expanded the fellmongery into a successful stock and station business. He imported the district's first car in 1908 and in 1913 established a garage which later expanded into the Todd Motor Company. Bryan Todd commenced his primary education at the local Heriot School. In February 1915 Charles Todd, his wife Mary Hegarty and their seven children (Charles Patrick (CP), Desmond, Kathleen
Kathleen Todd
Kathleen Mary Gertrude Todd was a pioneering New Zealand child psychiatrist.-Early Life:Kathleen Todd was born on 19 November 1898 in Heriot, Otago, She was one of the seven children of Charles Todd, an auctioneer and stock and station agent who founded a firm that became the Todd...
, Moyra, Bryan, Andrew
Andrew Todd (New Zealand)
Andrew Todd was one of four brothers who built one of New Zealand's biggest industrial and commercial enterprises. He was an important figure in the car assembly industry.-Early life:...
and Sheila) shifted to Dunedin
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
where Bryan Todd attended the Christian Brothers School
Kavanagh College
Kavanagh College is a Catholic Secondary school in Dunedin, New Zealand. The school in its present form dates from 1989 but its origins as a secondary school go back to 1871....
. When he was older he was sent to Sydney to board at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview.
Business
By the 1920s three of Charles' four sons, Desmond, Bryan and Andrew, were running branches of the Todd Motor Company in Dunedin, Christchurch and Auckland and by 1934 Andrew ToddAndrew Todd (New Zealand)
Andrew Todd was one of four brothers who built one of New Zealand's biggest industrial and commercial enterprises. He was an important figure in the car assembly industry.-Early life:...
had moved to Wellington to run a new Petone
Petone
Petone is a major suburb of the city of Lower Hutt in New Zealand. It is located at the southern end of the narrow triangular plain of the Hutt River, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour...
plant assembling Hillman
Hillman
Hillman is a British automobile marque created by the Hillman Motor Car Company, founded in 1907. The company was based in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, near Coventry, England. Before 1907 the company had built bicycles...
and Humber
Humber (car)
Humber is a dormant British automobile marque which could date its beginnings to Thomas Humber's bicycle company founded in 1868. Following their involvement in Humber through Hillman in 1928 the Rootes brothers acquired a controlling interest and joined the Humber board in 1932 making Humber part...
cars and commercial vehicles. The Mitsubishi franchise was acquired in 1970 when planning for New Zealand's biggest assembly plant was under way and in 1975 Todd Park was opened at Porirua
Porirua
Porirua is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand, immediately north of the city of Wellington, with their central business districts 20 km apart. A large proportion of the population commutes to Wellington, so it may be considered a satellite city. It almost completely surrounds...
. Bryan Todd set the scene for the group's later diversification into a range of interests - which included oil distribution, refining, and exploration, natural gas, forestry, finance, aviation, ironsands export, and land and property development - when a 1929 Petrol price war in Christchurch saw supplies cut off to the Todd garages because the petrol companies were setting up their own tied garages selling only their own petroleum products. Bryan Todd decided expanding world sources had created an opportunity for a fourth company to market petroleum products in New Zealand. In August 1931 the Associated Motorists' Petrol Company (AMPCO) was formed with the support of automobile clubs with his father Charles Todd as chairman. AMPCO marketed its products under the name "Europa Oil". By March 1933 bulk terminals had been built, a national retail network established and Europa petrol was on sale. Europa Marketing and Europa Refining were sold to British Petroleum in 1972, The group's participation in the oil business did not end with the sale of Europa. In 1954 it had acquired prospecting licences in the North and South Islands and entered joint venture exploration agreements with Shell and BP in 1955, 1956 and 1961. The consortium's successes included the Kapuni
Kapuni
Kapuni is a small hydrocarbons field and drilling site in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located within a dairy farming area in Taranaki, south of New Plymouth....
onshore field in 1959 and in 1969 the Maui
Maui
The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
off-shore gas-condensate field . The Todd group continues to be involved in these and other gas-condesate projects such as the Pohokura gas discovery in 2000 in which Todd has a 26% share. However, Bryan Todd's dream of a major New Zealand oil discovery has never been fulfilled.
Tax problems
Europa was always hampered by the fact it had to get its supplies from other companies, often themselves in competition with Europa in the New Zealand retail market. For this reason, Bryan Todd searched to set up an independent refining operation either in New Zealand or overseas. In 1954 Bryan Todd entered into an arrangement with Gulf OilGulf Oil
Gulf Oil was a major global oil company from the 1900s to the 1980s. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies...
to acquire petroleum products. That company did not give Europa any reduction on "posted prices
Price of petroleum
The price of petroleum as quoted in news generally refers to the spot price per barrel of either WTI/light crude as traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange for delivery at Cushing, Oklahoma, or of Brent as traded on the Intercontinental Exchange for delivery at Sullom Voe.The price...
". However, an arrangement was entered into under which the two companies established a refining company in the Bahamas known as Pan Eastern Refining Company. It purchased crude oil from Gulf at the standard posted price, arranged to have the oil refined by Gulf at one of its refineries, for a fee of 47.5c per barrel, and sold the refined petrol to Europa and the other products ("heavy ends") to Gulf, all at the current posted prices for those products. Depending on various factors, Pan Eastern made a profit of 50c for every barrel of crude oil refined, or about 5c for every gallon of petrol Europa purchased. This profit was shared between Gulf and Europa. Under New Zealand tax law dividends from Pan Eastern Refining were not counted as income of Europa itself; tax was only levied on Europa's dividends to its shareholders. However, the New Zealand Tax Department
Inland Revenue Department (New Zealand)
Inland Revenue , previously known as the Inland Revenue Department, is the New Zealand government department responsible for the collection of over 80% of the Crown's revenue in New Zealand. It also collects and disburses social support programme payments and provides the government with policy...
(Inland Revenue Department) ruled that the arrangements amounted to a discount off the posted price Europa paid for its supplies from Gulf, its taxable profit was therefore correspondingly greater than had been declared by Europa, and its taxable income was therefore increased accordingly for all the tax years 1959-1965. The extra tax demanded from Europa was over £
New Zealand pound
The pound was the currency of New Zealand between 1840 and 1967. Like the British pound, it was subdivided into 20 shillings each of 12 pence. As a result of the great depression of the early 1930s, the New Zealand agricultural export market to the UK was badly affected...
NZ2,000,000. The Inland Revenue considered that the Pan Eastern arrangement amounted to an evasion of tax. Europa disputed this. After hearings in the High Court and the Court of Appeal the issue went to the Privy Council (at that time New Zealand's highest court) which decided in the Inland Revenue's favour (in a split 3-2 decision). In 1971, on the basis of the Privy Council decision, the Inland Revenue claimed the extra tax and accrued penalties in respect of the tax years 1959-1965 (a total of $NZ6,714,829.34) which was paid, and also claimed for the tax years 1966-1971 (the latter years were not part of the case). Europa objected in respect of the years 1966-1971. After High Court and Court of Appeal decisions, that matter ended up again before the Privy Council. This time the Privy Council (split 4-1) decided for Europa Oil accepting that the arrangements for 1965-1971 were different from those for 1959-1965 (a new company, Todd refining, had been interposed and had the obligation to purchase from Pan Eastern, Europa itself had no obligation to buy any product from Todd Refining, and the Privy Council did not go behind the corporate veil to look at the reality of Todd family ownership interest in these entities) and that this led to a different conclusion. Europa received a tax refund of $NZ4,000,000. "Bryan [Todd] and his team ... had carried on the fight through 13 years and six court hearings". "As Bryan [Todd] was fond of quoting, 'The meek and the humble of heart shall inherit the earth. But the strong and the brave are the ones you put your money on!'".
Other interests
An active sportsman, Bryan Todd was a director of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, the company formed by skiing enthusiasts to develop the WhakapapaWhakapapa
Whakapapa , or genealogy, is a fundamental principle that permeates the whole of Māori culture. However, it is more than just a genealogical 'device'...
ski fields on Mt Ruapehu, and listed shooting, sailing and golf as other interests. A Wellington city councillor from 1941 till 1946 and airport committee chairman from 1943 till 1946, Bryan Todd privately and anonymously supported many charities as well as publicly chairing the Todd Charitable Trust established in 1960 and the Todd Foundation which followed in 1972. Both bodies give annual support to medical research, youth organisations, cultural and educational groups, the elderly, disabled and handicapped and other worthy causes. Bryan Todd was knighted in 1976 for services to industry and commerce.
Family and death
Todd was married to Helen Ann Rollo Buddo, cousin and adopted daughter of David BuddoDavid Buddo
David Buddo was a New Zealand politician and member of the Liberal Party.He was a Member of the House of Representatives, representing the Kaiapoi seat from: 1893–96, 1899–1919, and 1922–28.He was a Cabinet minister, serving in the cabinet of Sir Joseph Ward between 1909 and 1912 as Minister...
, a rich Canterbury
Canterbury, New Zealand
The New Zealand region of Canterbury is mainly composed of the Canterbury Plains and the surrounding mountains. Its main city, Christchurch, hosts the main office of the Christchurch City Council, the Canterbury Regional Council - called Environment Canterbury - and the University of Canterbury.-...
run-holder. Buddo, whose station
Station (New Zealand agriculture)
A station, in the context of New Zealand agriculture, is a large farm dedicated to the grazing of sheep and cattle. The use of the word for the farm or farm buildings date back to the mid-nineteenth century....
was at Fernside, Rangiora, was one of Canterbury's best-known farmer-politicians of the Liberal era
New Zealand Liberal Party
The New Zealand Liberal Party is generally regarded as having been the first real political party in New Zealand. It governed from 1891 until 1912. Out of office, the Liberals gradually found themselves pressed between the conservative Reform Party and the growing Labour Party...
. Bryan Todd died on 29 May 1987. He was survived by his wife and three daughters.