Fay threatens to stymie Crafar farm sale with legal action
Low-ball Crafar farms bidder threatens to seek judicial review if Shanghai Pengxin gets thumbs up from Overseas Investment Office.
The low-ball bidder for the Crafar farms group has threatened court action if a competing bid by a Chinese firm gets Overseas Investment Office approval.
A consortium fronted by controversial rich-lister Michael Fay said in a statement a judicial review would be sought if the OIO approved Shanghai Pengxin’s bid to take over the 24 dairy farms.
Spokesman for the Fay consortium Alan McDonald said: “The Overseas Investment Act does not permit consent to be granted for the acquisition of farm land by overseas persons with no relevant farming expertise. Shanghai Pengxin is a construction and property development company that has no expertise in dairy farming.”
The Crafar group went into receivership in late 2009 and attempts by receivers KordaMentha to dispose of assets by receivers have been torturous with this latest legal threat likely to drag the process out further.
A bid by the May Wang-fronted UBNZ funds management collapsed last year after Ms Wang was declared bankrupt and charged by Hong Kong authorities with corruption and money-laundering.
The bid by Shanghai Pengxin has been caught up in an extraordinarily long approval process at the OIO. The office normally seeks to reach decisions on whether to approve investments within 50 working days, but since Shanghai Pengxin filed their application last April, no announcement has been made.
Receivers have previously rejected the Fay consortium's bid as unacceptably low.
Matt Nippert
Thu, 19 Jan 2012
Thu, 19 Jan 2012
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Fay threatens to stymie Crafar farm sale with legal action
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