Mark Robinson: NZ Rugby chief executive on the organisation reaching a settlement with Ineos

New Zealand Rugby boss Mark Robinson is relieved a quick resolution has been found to the Ineos stand-off.

The petrochemical giant and NZR have reached a settlement after the latter launched legal action following Ineos terminating the deal three years early.

Robinson says he's satisfied with this decision.

"We're pleased there's been a settlement reached, we've been pretty open from when we started communicating this, we believed we had a pretty strong position." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brian Bridge. So the legal battle between Ens and Enios
is over. In fact, it didn't even really have to
go to court. They did take them to the High
Court for trying to back out of their sponsorship contract,
but they both settled out of court. Mark Robinson's the
nsit R chief executive, with me tonight. Hi Mark, Ryan, Hi,
how are you good to have you on? So are
you feeling pretty good about how much you got out

(00:21):
of them?

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Well, you know, obviously we can't talk in too much
detail about that, but yeah, we're pleased there's been a
settlement reached. We were pretty open from when we started
communicating this that we believed we had a really strong
position and it's just been nice to be able to
work through in a readially quick amount of time and
find a resolution.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
It has been quite quick. Did you think do you
think any of us expected you to just roll over
rather than actually lawyer up and take it to court.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Oh? Look, I probably wouldn't speculate on what we thought
they might do or not do, and what we were
really focused on what we thought our position was, and
we were really clear on that, and then we spend
a bit of time thinking about what the right process
was and clearly, you know, I don't want to go
back in time too much, but once it was a
breach like there was, and we were in a position

(01:16):
where we'd deliver on everything on our side of the contract,
we felt it was right to initiate you initiate the
process we did.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Gregor Paul reckons. You've got your money for twenty twenty five,
which would be about twenty one million dollars plus a
small additional payment for remaining two years. Is that way off?

Speaker 2 (01:35):
I didn't catch all of that, but look like I'm
not going to common any detail like I say, where
we've been able to work through it. Our team's put
a huge amount of work into it. We're pleasers. We've
got to what is.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Your policy going forward? Do you care whose name is
on the black jersey? And would you care if it
was BP, you know, or Greenpeace? Is there anything political
in the decision as you make or is it just financial?

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well as a range of considerations we have when we
look at potential partners, Ryan, So you know, there's obviously
a reputational piece, there's clearly a commercial piece, there's a
brand and values fit piece, so you know they are
part of the processes that we always work so and

(02:24):
those are being refined all the time. You know, as
we sort of grow as an organization and think differently
about our partnerships, it's constantly something that's under a view.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
How are you thinking differently?

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Well, we're constantly reviewing what we're doing in partnerships, how
we bring value to these partnerships. We're looking at different
markets around the world, We're looking at where our teams
are playing, We're looking at our digital reach. There's a
whole range of activity that we're part of now that
provides value to partners So, yes, it's constant evolution. We've

(03:00):
talked a lot about how exciting it is, you know,
the business of sport at the moment, and we're right
in the middle of a really interesting time.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
All right, Mark, good luck with the next sponsorship. Mark Robinson,
the z CEO with us For more from Heather Duplessy
Allen Drave. Listen live to News Talks the'd Be from
four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.