Businessman Hefin Lloyd Davies, 57, is setting up a distributorship in New Zealand for Ifor Williams Trailers who are based a few miles from where he was born and brought up.

The venture is being launched in the New Year and will be based in the North Island town of Cambridge. Hefin and his partner, Christine Edwards, have plans to set up a network of sub-distributors across the North Island.

A farmer’s son, Hefin was born in Carrog, near Corwen, before moving to the village of Glyndyfrdwy at the age of eight. The headquarters of Ifor Williams Trailers is in the nearby village of Cynwyd so Hefin is very familiar with their products.

The brand-leading firm has more than 100 distributors in the UK and across the world.

Hefin said: "I’m very proud of being Welsh and I have a lot of good friends in Wales and this just adds to it.

"These trailers are made in Wales, virtually the next village to where I was born, so you can’t get better than that really!"

Peter Nesbitt, the Business Development Manager at Ifor Williams Trailers, met Hefin and Christine who returned to Wales to finalise the details of the distributorship.

He said: "I’m delighted that somebody with such enthusiasm and passion has taken on the distributorship in New Zealand.

"We already have a presence in the South Island but I feel sure that there’s great potential for growth and expansion in the North Island, especially when we have people like Hefin who truly believes in the product."

Hefin and Christine first went to New Zealand on holiday and fell in love with the country.

He added: "We thought New Zealand was such a lovely place with really nice people, and beautiful surroundings which remind me of Wales.

"We decided we’d have a go at emigrating there and we were successful at becoming New Zealand residents.

"We were always interested in Ifor Williams Trailers as so many Kiwis use trailers for their every day needs with the majority of vehicles already having a tow bar fitted – we thought at the time this was a good starting point!

"We were sure Ifor Williams Trailers would do well so when we arrived in 2005, we started working as a sub-distributor in Queenstown in the south of the South Island.

"For us, it was like a toe in the water and we did quite well. The buyers were very happy with what they bought and they’ve continued to be happy so we decided we’d look at the North Island.

"I am now becoming a fully-fledged distributor in my own right in the North Island and we intend to have sub-distributors around the North Island.

"We believe there’s definitely huge potential for development and growth because they are a good product, there’s no question about that.

"We’ll be looking at the whole range but obviously initially we’re taking the most popular ones which are horse trailers, the livestock trailers and the flatbeds. We’ll be stocking at least 100 trailers at any given time.

"They are very competitive here in the UK, they’re the number one, and I have every reason to think that they could be there too.

"I know the product intimately so it gives me a sort of comfort and reassurance. We believe in quality of the trailers.

"The Kiwis are shrewd people and know value for money – and Ifor Williams Trailers certainly delivers on that score too.

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