Kōrero: Business failures and corporate fraud

This prospectus was issued in 1931 by NZ Perpetual Forests to attract investors in forestry. Like other forestry bonds, especially John McArthur’s Redwood Forests, these were later described as ‘junk bonds’ because they made many promises but provided few guarantees. A number of such businesses, including Redwood Forests, came close to collapse in the economic depression of the early 1930s. NZ Perpetual Forests, however, eventually provided capital for the successful enterprise NZ Forest Products.