Crafar decision due tonight or tomorrow
UPDATED 3pm:
The Prime Minister has confimed the decision on the Crafar farms sale is due before the weekend.
“It’s less likely to be today, more likely to be tomorrow,” John Key said.
Ministers were in the final throes of making a decision on Chinese company Shanghai Pengxin’s application to buy the farming empire, Mr Key said following his address to the Waitakere Business Club today.
He would not be drawn on whether he knew what the decision would be, but said he “had a feeling” of what might happen – distancing himself from the inevitable political controversy.
If Chinese company Shanghai Pengxin’s bid did meet the criteria of the Overseas Investment Office, the government did not have grounds to turn it down on the basis of ethnicity, he said.
Mr Key said there was always some concern about overseas ownership of New Zealand land and he did not think the wholesale purchase of New Zealand farms by foreign interests was in the best interest of New Zealanders, because it was a long-term resource.
However, overseas bids did inject competitive tension to the market, he said.
The Government’s likely response to any significant buy-up of New Zealand farms would be to tighten the criteria of the Overseas Investment Office, Mr Key said.
He claimed there had been six-times as much land sold to foreign interests when Labour was in office, than there had been under National.
If New Zealanders decided they did not want land sales to foreign interests, then a political party needed to campaign on banning sales to foreigners, he said.
But to his knowledge, no parties had done so at last year’s election.
A decision on the sale of the Crafar farms will be made late today or early tomorrow, the Wellington High Court heard this morning.
However, that decision could result in more legal action, a lawyer acting for interests trying to block the farms sale to Chinese company Shanghai Pengxin, told Justice Forrie Miller.
David Cooper, lawyer for the Sir Michael Fay fronted consortium that has opposed that bid to buy the farms, said that should the sale be approved by the Overseas Investment Office (OIO), his clients would try and stop it by taking action against the fourth defendant in this morning's case, Milk New Zealand Holdings Ltd, a Hong Kong-based subsidiary of Shanghai Pengxin.
Mr Cooper said a deal between the parties involved in the case had resulted in Sir Michael's group being given a copy of the application made by Shanghai Pengxin for approval of its bid to buy the farms.
Sir Michael's group has opposed the sale on the basis of what it has alleged is the questionable business acumen and lack of dairy experience of Shanghai Pengxin's sole director, Jiang Zhaobai.
All parties have agreed to a telephone conference at 12 noon on Monday, when the next step in the saga will begin to play out.
The Chinese company has agreed, if its application to the OIO is successful, not to settle any contact until February 3.
More by Georgina Bond and Colin Williscroft
Signup to free NBR email alerts here
Back to home
Back to top
Print
Email
Share
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Google
Yahoo
Technorati
Scoopit
NBR SERVICES
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Sign up for NBR subscriber content or email alerts
Latest
Comments and questions34
Maybe gone are the days politicians could sneak stuff out pre holidays or other events occupying the minds of the commoners.
Its a wonder the announcement wasn't made during RWC.
There are many residential houses owned and rented out by absentee Chinese landlords in Auckland where I live, thus depriving many young and first homeowners any chance of affording a property.
What is the difference with the Crafer farms?
Why don't you say there are many dairy shops owned by Indians where you live, thus depriving many young Kiwis any chance of owning a dairy??
C'mon. Just admit that you discriminate against the chink chong flied lice dirty greedy poluting Chinese. That's all this is. They are an easy minority to pick on.
Racist is an ugly & unPC word but it's a sad fact of life.
Why don't you say there are many dairy shops owned by Indians where you live, thus depriving many young Kiwis any chance of owning a dairy??
C'mon. Just admit that you discriminate against the chink chong flied lice dirty greedy poluting Chinese. That's all this is. They are an easy minority to pick on.
'Racism' is an ugly & unPC word but it's a sad fact of life.
Don't wish to sound pedantic, but I think you'll find the correct way of saying it is actually 'ching chong.........'
Will correctly go the chinese way and should have been approved last year.
Foreign purchasers of our farm land do not really want the land at all.
No. They want our water. Global shortages of clean drinkable water are being forecast. Particularly in China.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/world/asia/02water.html?pagewanted=all
Why didn't you protest when the Germans bought our dairy farms last year?
I have no problem with the Chinese people. Its their political system I have difficulty with, and their poor regard for human rights.
The chinese are for the most part hard working and law abiding people. Unfortunately, they do tend to work alot harder than the average kiwi. Their work life balance is not the same, and while they could be good for the financial economy, they have the potential to shut out kiwis from opportunities they otherwise would have.
A good example of this is the asians take out alot of the places at medical school. The flow on consequences of this are not so great..
Who's complaining?
The difference is that the Overseas Investment Act applies to non urban land of 5 ha or more. If you live in Auckland, then it's urban land and the Act does not apply to such land.
As I recall, the criteria to get into Med School is extremely high and no matter if you are naturally smart, you need to work hard to acheive the high grades required to get there. In the 1970s/1980s before the significant Asian migration, the standards to get into Med School was as high as they are now. These days, if you are a white NZer and can achieve the high grades, you can get into Med School. But it's not because the Asians are monopolising places, we just have to work as hard.
people are naive about China thinking they are the best since sliced bread.
China is a communist country and always will be and has great influence in Fiji and are trying to gain the same here.
Its a mistake selling these farms to them because it is a politically correct decision.
They are not our friends,in adversity they will team up with North Korea without a blink.
sell the land to the highest bidder. If Fay wants to buy it then he has to offer more. Fay has made squiilions out of NZ and NZers. he hasn't had a problem involving foreigners in Tranz Rail, BNZ, Telecom etc The only difference with these foreigners is they look different. Pay up Fay or shut up.
Foreign ownership of 8000 hectares of prime Waikato dairying country - how does this benefit New Zealand? Foreign investment I have no concerns with but ownership of our land - where are our Maori leaders now?
they can't take the land with them
No they can't take the land but they can take the water and they can take the milk powder. And the profits from their trade of same. They will build/buy their own processing plants in competition with Fonterra, potentially destabilising our biggest export earner. Those are the things they want, not the land.
All the hysteria about China. Pathetic.
Even more pathetic was the comment that Asians are pricing young Kiwis out of their first homes and out of university places.
If New Zealanders are not SO DUMB as to spend billions buying overpriced and overhyped coastal, beachside and resort second homes (some of them palatial and totally inappropriate as second homes to relax in), they would be the ones buying homes for their children and keeping the houses in New Zealander hands.
Instead, it's yet another case of blaming others for creating their own woes.
No wonder the likes of Mr Fay think (and appropriately so) that many NZers are mere fools for them to take advantage of.
Enjoy!
They are taking NZ's water everyday when they buy NZ's dairy and agricultural products - so how is them buying the farms any difference?
You are making the assumption that farming is automatically profitable and that is definitely not the case. Ask the Crafars.
Pathetic - the level that some of you sink down to.
Where were you when the Germans bought all those hectares of dairy farms in the last 2 years? If you want to pint fingers on who has done NZ wrong, who killed the flower of your youth in 2 world wars?
Last time I checked Shanghai Pengxin is a private company. Not the communist government.
I think most of you are just being ridiculously emotional. This is strictly a business decision. A dairy farm has gone under and is offering itself to the highest bidder.
As Anon 4.27pm said, it REALLY boils down to picking on the yellow skin.
I must say their public image as an ethnic group is not the most appealing to us. After all, everyone thinks they are still a 3rd world country. Wait, are they?!
At least Chinese pays for the land!
3rd world country? China?
Go and have a look at Shanghai and most of the big cities in China and weep for NZ.
Go to parts of Northland and South Auckland, and look at the living conditions of many of the residents and weep for NZ.
Toad living in a well thinks that the world is the well!
We make money selling our produce. We make nothing if we sell the land.
You get $200m. At default interest rates of 11%, you make $22m a year.
The $200m can be used to develop more dairy farms.
Oh I forgot - New Zealanders love their second $m beach or resort homes more.
How much did New Zealanders lost in the finance companies?
$7 billion and still counting?
Just 3% (yes, 3%) of that money buys Crafar farms.
Think about where your priorities lie.
This is not a black & white issue for MANY reasons. The Chinese have a bad reputation for human rights, & also animal abuse as well. So this does not sit well when you think about taking care of dairy animals. Second, China cares nothing about NZ - only China. I have done business with the Chinese, and not only are they smart, but cunning and will easily take advantage of a population that is as stupid as the average Kiwi to think that NZ will actually get something out of this deal. We won't. They will be competition to our export system, and unless they buy into the FOnterra Co-op, it will be a disaster. On another hand, the Chinese work harder than any Kiwi ever could, so you cannot blame them for coming into this country (most of NZ is deaf, dumb and blind as to what goes on outside of NZ so Kiwis are easy as pie to manipulate), working hard, and maximizing on the facts that most Kiwis simply don't want to get off their arse and work, or go above "just good enough." Kiwis have difficulty competing when it comes to international markets due to their complacency, so either you restrict purchasing from foreign bidders or you do not. From the sellers standpoint, it always goes that the highest bidder gets it - so why should anyone who is Kiwi be treated any different? NZ policymakers need to stop selling out to foreign interests to make a quick buck. China thinks of China and NZ will be worse off for it...but our political agenda is in keeping with the NWO
Christ most of you couldn't grasp the real issue here.
It's "Protecting our patch" wether Germans or Chinese.
Profits made in New Zealand must stay in New Zealand if we are to move forward as a nation.
Selling our land to a company with no expertise in the running or management of a Dairy farm is not in our interest.
(even contradicts the basic requirements of the statute that the OIO adheres to)
As for the 200.million that will be going to the idiots in the banking fraternity who lent such vast sums to the Crafers.
If you want to narrow down a difference between a European culture and an Asian culture it is this.
On the whole Europeans take a pride in creating a product and service and then selling it for a good price while trying to ensure the integrity of the product remains constant.
The Chinese on the other hand do business with a "Black Heart" to coin a phrase.
All emotion is taken out of the equation and on the whole they will copy a product I repeat copy a product for a price.
Then they will do anything they can to cheapen that product over time in order to make more profit.
This entails the components of the product,working conditions and pay conditions.
So if I had a choice I know who I would prefer .
I also believe and I may be wrong and that is we cannot buy land in China while we can in Germany.
The ultimate goal for the Chinese is to dominate the world Dairy market and this will be achieved by joint partnerships with "Fontera" in China as well as buying into our local market.
Therefore controlling the product and profit from the farm gate to the consumer,as well as learning all the knowledge they can to create and extend their own domestic industry.
If you want an inkling into their mind set,look at the recent Milk powder scandal in China with Fontera'a Chinese partner .
Not a case of being xenophobic but a case of protecting what is ours and trying to maintain and improve our standard of living thru doing it ourselves.
So Alex, it's simple - you borrow like crazy, you must repay. Why should any creditors take less just because they are foreigners?
AND, where is your tirade against the Germans who have been the biggest foreign buyers of dairy farms in NZ to date? A link please.
And pray, tell us when NZ is going to stop borrowing from foreigners to pay for groceries and for building overvalued and overpriced second holiday homes.
Is NZ going to pass a law to stop borrowings?
When you borrow and cannot repay, you must sell something.
Every society and economy go through a transition.
Europeans shamelessly copied from the Asians in earlier centuries. The Japanese and Koreans used to be called copycats. Now some of the world's top brands are from?
The Chinese will be no different.
Just get used to the fact that China will rightfully claim its place in the global economy and as a strong nation in the world.
Remember the Europeans wanted China goods in the 1800s but could not pay. So they did it first by selling addictive drugs (opium). They so weakened the Chinese that when the Chinese tried to stop the opium trade, the Europeans turned to war.
One gets the sense that Europeans (of whom most New Zealanders descended from) are simply petrified of the karma of history coming their way.
No other explanation otherwise.
Compared to the Americans and Australians who have wrecked havoc on the NZ economy, China has done nothing but good for NZ.
Don't repay goodwill with unjustifiable xenophobia.
Having done business in China I know the mindset and this is to work on a 50 plus year horizon. We tend to work on a 5 year horizon. When a company talks of setting up their own milk powder plant, 16 farms will not provide the crtical mass to justify the plant...the Chinese will be looking at potentially 4-5 times that number of farms minimum. Wake up Kiwis, New Zealand Inc is a great looking Dairy farm for the Chinese....and watch Fonterra collapse...and therefore the NZ economy. All this may take 20 years..but it will happen. WAKE UP!! By the way..Why can't I buy land in China..because ancient cultures such as the Chinese know their land is all they have. Kiwis need to learn from them!!
Like all China citizens, you cannot buy land in China. You can only lease it.
Fonterra is already there and leasing land for its operations.
Fonterra WILL collapse not because of the Chinese but because the dairy farmers in NZ live in cloud cuckoo land, buying farms off one another at ever inflated prices, suing borrowed money.
WAKE UP, NZ inc.
STOP BORROWING and REGAIN CONTROL OF YOUR FUTURE.
JUST STOP BORROWING TO PAY FOR YOUR GROCERIES.
Well, you think NZ can do that?
Finally! A Kiwi who has more than average general knowledge about asset ownership in China.
The Chinese govt owns all the land in China. No private citizen or company can buy land. They can only lease it.
"Why can't I buy land in China..because ancient cultures such as the Chinese know their land is all they have." - oh, please. You clearly demonstrated that you never did any business in China. Otherwise you would have heard everyone talking about leasing the land for my factory/office. You never hear a duffer who says 'oh, I want to buy more land next week'.
Duh.
Deal approved.
As expected.
STOP BORROWING if you do not want more land to be sold to foreign interests, New Zealanders.
You are going back to becoming peasants if you keep BORROWING.
I want to tell that after perusal of your post I have found a lot of interesting a thing in your blog, and I really love it. Watch for good work! accommodation kiev
Post new comment or question
To share this article, click on a service below