Cigarettes boss buys organic farm
The chief executive of a company that manufactures a product regarded as the single greatest cause of preventable death globally plans to farm in New Zealand according to the healthiest principles.
Chief executive of tobacco company Philip Morris, Andre Calantzopoulos and his wife Malgorzata have been granted consent by the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) to buy two Northland properties. A 316 hectare sheep and beef property at Waipapa, while an 18ha block at Kerikeri is where the couple intend to build a home.
Greek-born Calantzopoulos, 60, has been the chief executive of the tobacco giant since 2013, and has worked for it since the age of 28. In 2008 the World Health Organisation described tobacco as ‘‘the single most preventable cause of death in the world today’’. Each year it kills 5.4 million people.
The Calantzopoulos couple plan to farm the land along organic permaculture principles for breeding beef cattle and sheep.
The OIO approved the sale because the couple would place a covenant over two areas of indigenous forest, as well as fence other areas of native forest including plantings along the Kerikeri River.
They had also pledged to carry out pest control to create a predator-free corridor from their land to nearby Puketi Forest.
They plan to provide or improve walking access over the land, through a poled walkway route, and an esplanade strip beside the Kerikeri River.
The OIO withheld the amount Calantzopoulos paid for the two properties, but he would have little difficulty in financing the deal. According to the publication Barron’s Asia, in 2014 he owned 695,000 shares in Philip Morris, worth today just over $106 million.
In an article in the same year, Forbes magazine described him as a ‘‘pack-a-day-man’’ who was spearheading an attempt to move Philip Morris into the lucrative e-cigarette market.