Sixteen farms owned by the Crafar family have been placed on the market, according to Bayleys Real Estate.Michael Stiassny and Brendon Gibson of KordaMentha were appointed receivers in October last year and they have so far failed to get the Crafar family
Sixteen farms owned by the Crafar family have been placed on the market, according to Bayleys Real Estate.
Michael Stiassny and Brendon Gibson of KordaMentha were appointed receivers in October last year and they have so far failed to get the Crafar family to leave the farms.
Allan Crafar told NBR that he was working on raising money overseas and was confident he could reach a deal which would enable his family to stay on their land.
Mr Stiassny said the receivers had negotiated new sharemilking contracts on the dairy units, and overseen investment in management, infrastructure and systems to ensure the farms continued operating through the next season, beginning in June. They are being sold as going concerns.
The receivers had not signed agreement with either Chinese-owned Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings or UBNZ Assets Holdings, which in March disclosed negotiations to purchase the farms.
"They have expressed an interest in the Crafar properties, but we have no formal agreements in place with either company at the present time," Mr Stiassny said.
The portfolio of farms was being marketed exclusively both domestically and internationally by Bayleys via a tender, which closes on June 23. Some or all of the farms may be sold prior to that tender.
Bayleys is inviting buyers to register an interest and said it will have information on the properties available early in May.
The farms scattered throughout the North Island were formerly operated by business entities involved with Allan, Beth and Frank Crafar.
The 16 farms employed nearly 200 staff and 8000ha. Individual farms range in size from 128ha to 1750ha.
The farms support almost 17,000 dairy cows. Several of the farms are also being run as dry stock units.
The farms are located in the Waikato, Benneydale, Reporoa, Atiamuri, Waverley, Hawera and Bulls.
Bayleys national country manager, Richard Graham, said the agency was throwing the full weight of its nationwide sales force behind the portfolio in acknowledgement of the scale which the Crafar farm portfolio represented.
The Crafar family owed more than $200 million to PGG Wrightson, Westpac and Rabobank.
