Family Business
Issue No. 26 - December/January 2005/06
Michell‘s China options
Michell Pty Ltd has paved the way for increased production in China and Australia with key acquisitions in Taiwan that could increase the company’s turnover by as much as $30 million.
The SA-based specialist industrial fibre business, in a deal with wool textile company, Chuwa Wool Industrial Co (Taiwan) Ltd has signed a contract to buy two wool carbonising lines and one loosewool superwash line.
Michell managing directors, Peter and David Michell, say the purchase is part of the company’s long-term strategy to build its carbonising business in China and add to the capacity of the group’s existing Australian operations.
The Michell brothers exemplify a family business that has reinvented itself through generational change. They took control of what had been the wool division of the longstanding GH Michell company, which had become part of a well-diversified group.
The pair wanted to keep faith with their ancestry and keep their family name prominent in the international textile industry.
Now trading as Michell Pty Ltd, the brothers are looking to carry Australian expertise in their trade well beyond our borders.
“It’s long been our plan to expand our wool supply base beyond Australia,” Peter Michell says.
“Until now, we haven’t been in a position to source wool from China as we had no way of processing it to a point where it was able to be exported.
“However, with the acquisition of the two...
