-
An aerial view of one of the Crafar farms - Source: ONE News
The Overseas Investment Office has strongly denied a report in
the Herald today that it will reject the Chinese-backed bid for the
Crafar group of farms.
The New Zealand Herald reported that the OIO has nearly completed
its review of Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings Ltd's application for
consent on the purchase of 16 farms.
The newspaper claimed that the OIO has either declined consent or
suggested significant constraints.
Natural Dairy has a sale agreement worth $213 million conditional
on the OIO and government ministerial approval.
The manager of the OIO, Annelies McClure, released an urgent
statement in response this morning saying both things were
completely incorrect.
"The OIO has not rejected nor suggested or imposed significant
constraints on the application or Natural Dairy," McClure
said.
She says the OIO is continuing to assess Natural Dairy's
application against the requirements of the Overseas Investment Act
2005 and no decisions have been made.
"The application from Natural Dairy to acquire an 80% shareholding
in UBNZ Assets Holdings Limited is extremely complex," said
McClure.
UBNZ, a New Zealand registered company, is currently 20% owned by
Natural Dairy. Once the Crafar deal is complete, Natural Dairy,
which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, had
planned to increase its shareholding to 80%.
Natural Dairy recently said it has reduced its ambitious plans to
invest $1.5 billion in dairy farming throughout New Zealand after a
dispute with the HKSE who said the plans amounted to a reverse
takeover.
McClure says the OIO is still assessing the application and cannot
be specific in terms of when a decision will be made due to its
complexity. They have asked Natural Dairy for further information
and have yet to receive a response.
Once the OIO completes its assessment, it will provide a
recommendation to Land Minister Maurice Williamson and Conservation
Minister Kate Wilkinson.
The ministers will then have the final say.
The Natural Dairy bid has highlighted the controversial issue of
foreign land ownership. Prime Minister John Key said he did not
want a situation developing where New Zealanders "became tenants
in
their own land" and a protest group was formed against farm sales
to foreign owners.
Williamson said Kiwis are racist in their attitudes to foreign
ownership and it was the ethnicity of the buyers that has ignited
the resistance to sales.
The Herald also claimed today that state-owned Landcorp is back in
the running to buy the whole group of farms.
Landcorp did make a bid to receivers KordaMentha when they called
for tenders but it was rejected as the value was too low.
Chris Kelly, chief executive of Landcorp, declined to comment to
the Herald and Natural Dairy spokesman Bill Ralston said he
understood the company would be making an announcement within 48
hours.
