A bid by state-owned Landcorp for 16 dairy farms owned by former Crafar family companies has fallen short leaving a Chinese-backed company in the box seat to purchase the assets.Receivers Michael Stiassny and Brendon Gibson of KordaMentha confirmed today
A bid by state-owned Landcorp for 16 dairy farms owned by former Crafar family companies has fallen short leaving a Chinese-backed company in the box seat to purchase the assets.
Receivers Michael Stiassny and Brendon Gibson of KordaMentha confirmed today that over 50 offers were submitted on all or parts of the portfolio from a range of buyers.
They were pleased with the strength of the offers, however Landcorp was not among the preferred tenders, they said in a brief statement.
Landcorp had submitted a joint bid with Wairakei Pastoral, a company associated with wealthy Auckland businessmen Trevor Farmer, Ross Green and Mark Wyborn.
Chinese company Natural Dairy has signed a conditional sale agreement with KordaMentha to buy the farms, subject to Overseas Investment Office approval and the absence of a better offer.
Last week Allan Crafar was unsuccessful in applying for an interim injunction preventing a sale of the farms.
Tenders for the sale of the properties closed last Wednesday.
NBR understands some last minute bids were submitted including bids from Waikato interests – one of which was unconditional.
The Crafar farms went into receivership last October, with Crafar owing more than $200 million to Westpac, Rabobank and PGG Wrightson.
Negotiations with the preferred tenderers will continue over the coming days.
