OUR story

The Fintra Story

An Image of the Smorgon Family coming to Australia
An image of a Smorgon ad for meat
David Holckner standing next to a delivery from Smorgon Steel
David Holckner with the Smorgon Board
The Smorgon meat abattoir in Footscray
An Image of the Smorgon Family coming to Australia
An image of a Smorgon ad for meat
David Holckner standing next to a delivery from Smorgon Steel
David Holckner with the Smorgon Board
The Smorgon meat abattoir in Footscray
An Image of the Smorgon Family coming to Australia
An image of a Smorgon ad for meat
David Holckner standing next to a delivery from Smorgon Steel
David Holckner with the Smorgon Board
The Smorgon meat abattoir in Footscray
OUR STORY
Throughout our history, every activity has always been rooted in family. Journey back over 100 years to our humble beginnings in Mariupol, Ukraine, to where we are today.

Discover our story below.
December 1926
8 members of the Smorgon Family of butchers, led by Norman, slipped out of Mariupol in the former USSR (today Ukraine). Travelling to Marseilles via Moscow and Riga, they boarded the SS Commissaire Ramel, a ship converted from a cattle carrier bound for Australia.
An Image of the Smorgon Family coming to Australia
The SS Commissaire Ramel Ship
March 1927
The family settles in Carlton, Victoria and buys a butcher shop to sell meat. Over the next few years, they would expand to purchase 2 additional shops in the city.
The First Smorgon Family Butcher Shop
October 1943
The meat business has expanded interstate to Queensland and is now known as Smorgon Consolidated Industries. A 40 acre abattoir is acquired in Footscray.
The Smorgon Family Abattoir in Footscray
June 1958
The meat business now encompasses multiple abattoirs, a station in the Northern Territory, a rabbit and fruit export business and an egg carton firm. More of the family reaches working age and joins Smorgon Consolidated Industries.
An image of a Smorgon ad for meat
May 1972
After seeing his father working in the family business, an 18 year old David, fed up with school, decides to join Smorgon Consolidated Industries. He was assigned to the slaughter floor at one of the abattoirs. The family has now expanded into the paper industry too.
David joining the abattoir
December 1979
Smorgon Consolidated Industries is still looking to enter new business sectors. Now aged 25, David's cousin Victor Smorgon AC asks him to investigate establishing a steel mill.

The industry is currently dominated by Australia’s largest company and monopoly steel supplier BHP Limited.

Ironically, Mariupol, where the family emigrated from, was particularly known for its steel production.

October 1981
After visiting a few steel mills, David crunches the numbers and draws up a business plan for a cost efficient competitor to BHP.

The family agrees to establish a steel business called Smorgon Steel.
An article in the paper about BHP and Smorgon Steel
February 1984
The business has been an instant success. Over the next few years, additional plants would be acquired for expansion. The company supplied Australia wide.

The family has also begun diversifying their investments, particularly into property and equities.
David Holckner standing next to a delivery from Smorgon Steel
December 1994
Smorgon Consolidated Industries is now the largest private company in Australia. David is appointed to the board as part of a next generation succession plan.
The Smorgon Consolidated Industries Board with David Holckner
Februay 1995
The family decides to divest Smorgon Consolidated Industries. David's father Charlie Holckner OAM looks for a new business venture to begin with his children.
October 1998
The Holckner Family establishes Encore Tissue, a paper manufacturer. The family seeks to apply the same cost efficiencies from Smorgon Steel to the tissue business.
Learn more about Encore tissue here
David standing next to a jumbo roll of paper at Encore Tissue
March 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic hits Australia's shores. Demand for toilet paper explodes. David is now the CEO of Encore Tissue, Australia’s most cost efficient tissue manufacturer.
LEARN MORE ABOUT PANIC BUYING HERE
David Holckner standing in the Encore Tissue Warehouse
September 2022
David's father Charlie sadly passes away. A short while after, the Holckner Family decides to divest the group.

David has been investing on his own for 20+ years. He plans to create a new firm where he can continue his investing for future generations.

April 2025
David founds Fintra in Melbourne with his family as a private investment firm. Fintra follows 20+ years of personal investing for David, on the side of his other roles.

David remains a director of Smorgon Group Companies and Holckner Family Companies.
An image of the Melbourne skyline

“Fintra got its name from a process we have experienced for decades.  Through every step of our family's journey, we have gone through transformation time and time again, much of that being financial. Financial Transformation. Fin-tra. Fintra."

David Holckner, Executive Chairman

Today
The Fintra logo in Ivory
Where Legacy Evolves
Today, we continue to invest and transform the capital generated over our long business journey for future generations to come, and for our numerous philanthropic efforts.
Approach
Philanthropy
The Fintra logo in Ivory
The Fintra logo in IvoryThe Fintra logo in IvoryThe Fintra logo in Ivory
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