Callaghan tech firm to send jobs overseas
Magritek, a technology company founded by Sir Paul Callaghan, has told staff about half of its New Zealand workforce could be transferred to Germany.
The Wellington-based company, which is a spinoff from Victoria University of Wellington, sells devices that use nuclear magnetic resonance to find out information about molecules.
The scanning technology, which is far cheaper than the products of its rivals, has applications ranging from oil and gas, food and construction to medicine and academic research.
While the company has gained the backing of institutional investors after hitting targets to increase revenue, chief executive Andrew Coy confirmed that it had begun negotiations with staff that could see the roles of 11 of Magritek’s approximately 20 staff members transferred to Germany.
Magritek merged with a German diagnostics company in 2011. It has a facility in Aachan in Germany and the proposal would add jobs there.
‘‘Obviously in terms of the impact in New Zealand, it’s more significant, but we’ve got to look at the company globally and what’s right for the business going forward,’’ Coy said.
Staff were told of the proposal on February 14.
In 2010 Magritek won the top prize in the Prime Minister’s science awards, with John Key describing it as ‘‘an excellent example of superb science being successfully commercialised’’.
Investment company Rangitira is the largest investor, with a stake of just under 18 per cent.
Two of Rangitira’s directors, Sam Knowles and Sophie Haslam, sit on the Magritek board.
Magritek was founded as a company by Callaghan in 2004. A prominent physicist, after whom Crown entity Callaghan Innovation was named, Callaghan was New Zealander of the Year in 2011. He died of cancer in 2012.
Callaghan shared a vision that New Zealand’s size meant about 100 niche companies could make the country more prosperous and wealthy. ‘‘The fundamental mission statement needs to be a country where talent wants to live,’’ he said in a speech.
Coy, whose PhD was supervised by Callaghan, said though the process could be difficult, Magritek was making the decisions it needed to prosper, something its founder would have respected.
The consultation with staff was expected to last another four to six weeks and would attempt to mitigate the impact on staff, including possible redeployment options.