Historical situation

From http://www.answers.com/topic/csr-limited?cat=biz-fin

In an effort to change its image from that of solely a sugar producer, CSR has been promoting its increasingly strong position in the building and construction materials industry. The company has substantial operations in quarrying, concrete, cement products, bricks and tiles, plasterboard, insulation, and timber products, as well as investments in aluminum.

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Although CSR was known mainly as a sugar producer, the postwar program of diversification changed the corporate profile considerably. The last year of the war marked CSR’s first substantial entry into building materials and construction when the company bought an interest in Fletcher Holdings, a large construction and timber company based in New Zealand.

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The acquisition in 1959 of the Bradford Insulation Group gave CSR a major share of the insulation products market throughout Australia.

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In 1989 controversy concerning the company’s alleged negligence in its management of the Wittenoom asbestos mine, which it had sold in 1966, was settled. CSR paid out an estimated A$30 million in damages to more than 300 workers suffering from asbestos-related lung diseases. Australian newspapers referred to the event as “Australia’s Bhopal.”

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Further reading: CSR: Building in Quality; Fact Book, Sydney: CSR, January 1990.