Landcorp has today confirmed it will bid for the Crafar family farms and could still enter into a deal with a private partner.The state-owned farming giant's chief executive Chris Kelly confirmed this afternoon the company's board unanimously agreed to bi
Landcorp has today confirmed it will bid for the Crafar family farms and could still enter into a deal with a private partner.
The state-owned farming giant’s chief executive Chris Kelly confirmed this afternoon the company’s board unanimously agreed to bid for all 16 farms offered in the Crafar portfolio by receivers KordaMentha.
Mr Kelly said Landcorp’s bid would be made by the end of Wednesday, in time for the tender close off handled by Bayleys Real Estate.
A partnership deal has not been confirmed but Mr Kelly said details are still being worked on and it would be the preferred option rather than going alone.
Last week Mr Kelly confirmed that Rich Lister property developers Mark Wyborn, Ross Green and Trevor Farmer were involved in talks with Landcorp in terms of a partnership but said other parties were also involved in discussions.
Over recent weeks Landcorp has valued all the Crafar farms and Mr Kelly said the bid was based on that together with the experience of running 105 other farms.
“Whether it will be high enough or successful is another issue,” he said.
Landcorp’s bid will compete against that of UBNZ Assets, fronted by Auckland businesswoman May Wang.
UBNZ is working on buying the farms for Hong Kong-based Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings, which announced earlier this year a proposal to spend $1.5 billion on farms and milk processing capacity.
The UBNZ bid is subject to Overseas Investment Office approval and today, the National Business Review understands, the company was to relodge its application in support of its bid.
In March, UBNZ lost a High Court bid after it suggested it did not require OIO approval to buy the farms.
Today it was confirmed UBNZ has lodged a submission with the Court of Appeal against the decision.
