It is highly likely the Overseas Investment Office will provide a recommendation to the government on Chinese company Shanghai Pengxin's bid to buy the Crafar farms by January 31, the deadline set by the farms' receiver for Pengxin to go unconditional on the purchase.
Receiver KordaMentha has accepted Pengxin's bid for the 16 central North Island farms conditional on Overseas Investment Office and Cabinet approval. The bid has languished in front of the OIO for nine months as the OIO said it waited for additional information to be provided by the company, which it recently had received.
In December, KordaMentha announced the January 31 deadline for Pengxin's bid, meaning if the OIO did not approve the sale by that date, the agreement for Pengxin to buy the farms would be dropped. This would open up an opportunity for a consortium led by investment banker Michael Fay to seek to purchase the farms.
Fay bid NZ$171.5 million in September for the Crafar farms, which is thought to be at least NZ$30 million below the price Pengxin has offered to pay. Fay has since launched an attack on SOE Landcorp for agreeing to run the farms for Pengxin, should the Chinese company's offer be accepted.
In his latest move, Fay yesterday threatened to seek a judicial review of the OIO's process if it recommended the farms be sold to Pengxin.
The Crafar farms were tipped into receivership by lenders Westpac, Rabobank and PGG Wrightson in October 2009 who were then owed about NZ$216 million.
'Highly likely'
"It is highly likely that the Ministers will receive the OIO's recommendation by January 31," a spokesman for the OIO told interest.co.nz about the Pengxin bid on Friday morning.
In 2010 Ministers were given more flexibility to reject foreign bids for New Zealand assets following public outrage over the initial bid to buy the Crafar Farms by a company fronted by Chinese-backed businesswoman May Wang, who was investigated by the Serious Fraud Office and subsequently charged in Hong Kong over her involvement in the bid. That bid was turned down under New Zealand's old overseas investment rules for failing a 'good character' test.
The Pengxin bid fell under the new rules, which allow ministers to consider whether New Zealand’s economic interests are adequately safeguarded and promoted by a foreign purchase of domestic assets.
"This will improve ministerial flexibility to respond to both current and future economic concerns about foreign investment, such as large-scale ownership of farmland," English said when announcing the changes in 2010.
A new “mitigating” factor also enabled ministers to consider whether an overseas investment provided opportunities for New Zealand oversight or involvement – for example, by appointing New Zealand directors or establishing a head office in this country.
17 Comments
http://translate.google.co.nz/?hl=en&tab=wT#en|zh-TW|bloody%20terrible
please - listen how that sounds.
"Clunk" another one of the National govts supporting electorate props is kicked away.....(the public do not want the farmland flogged to a Chinese govt whatever company end of bloody story and the govt is pissed that Kiwi are so anti Chinese)...Shearer may find himself and Labour sleepwalking into office in 014....which sort of explains why Kiwibank is being prepped to become the market money porker for the govt in 014...ie you will see a flood of cheap 100% loans dished out to business in the lead up to the election...and a load of BS spewing forth from govt about the promised surplus slightly delayed but a certainty in early 015..yeah sure.
Between now and then neither Bill English nor John Key will go within a bulls roar of the screamingly obvious GST damage being done to the building sector...they just don't want to say "we stuffed up"
Meanwhile Kiwi mum and dad...be careful over these SOE sales....you are being fitted up for a good fleecing....the post sales divs will likely be trimmed as the grab for capital by the SOEs gathers pace...or did you expect as a minority shareholder your interests would be looked after...hahahahaha.
And the band played on....borrow borrow borrow like there's no tomorrow....chase that property folks...you can't lose with property...save the bubble....sign up for a lifetime of debt misery....you too can join the ranks of the bank serfs.
It's a done deal according to Fran O'Sullivan...and i'd say shes right, Fay may as well keep his money under his mattress!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=107…
NeilD, I think so too, I heard that Landcorp was hiring workers for the new venture a few months ago. The lenghts we go to to keep land prices up and protect the %1 are limitless. I find it baffling that Im going to South America in March to look at land while overseas buyers line up to buy NZ. Nothing good for Kiwis will come of this, we will end up as workers for overseas master and how far will China go to suppress wages? The fact they are poor quality faarms that should have been left in sheep is beside the point ,which is that the farms should be auctioned to the higest bidder and the farms should be sold individualy. The issue of high land prices and very high and getting higher cost stuctures that are becoming unsustainable on even these high prices is swept under the carpet for another day somewhere in the future, 'not on our watch'.
We spent years fighting communism but now the %1 need the money we bend over backwards. The millions spent on keeping the red peril from our door turns into an open door policy if it suits certain people. Our leaders are dangerous people.
In Topic: Your iPhone was built by 13 year-olds making 70 cents/hour
17 January 2012 - 01:28 PM
The top employs the bottom for the minimum to produce the maximum so the top can obtain the maximum for the minimum.The top employ the bottom to supply the top with everything wholesale...the top then mark it up and sell it to the bottom retail.
the difference between the wholesale cost and the retail price is the yield teh top lives off of.
the top sucks from the bottom.
the top grows richer in power by taking more power than they give from the bottom while the bottom grows poorer in power by giving more power than they take from the top.
Once the bottom reaches their maximum potential to supply the demand for yield by the top...the system cannibalizes itself and collapses...implodes.
The yields have been dropping for 30 years because the only way the top has been able to obtain the yields from the bottom they demand...is by cutting the teh demand for yields and making up the difference on volume.
This process has almost been exhausted the past 30 years and now the top is resorting to raising the prices of food and fuel to attempt to force the bottom to supply the demand for yield they require to sustain the delusional lifestyles of the wannbe rich and famous.
Those Chinesee slaves are worked so hard that they purposely drop things so they can rest stopping to pick up what they dropped...or kill themselves.
I'm sure Aj the new Chinese landlords will be on their best behaviour...Key has nodoubt had a cup of tea with the Chinese ambassador regarding media/public scrutiny post takeover. Yes some of the farms are marginal dairy platforms, black cattle country really, the two big farms Taharua on the Rangitaiki and Pureora are both cold high hard pumice country and will need alot of capital invested to bring them up to speed but the others are all good farms,
Heres a link for you if you haven't already seen it, you may find interesting, the thing that strikes me the most is what a bit of scale can do, room to grow, NZ has runout of room.
http://www.xcheque.com/xcheque-blog/all-blogs/5290-but-wait-theres-more…
That link didnt work, Im looking at a forestry venture in Chile and my friend has gold interests so we are going on a road come prospecting, tramping trip. He purchased 670 acres of landin sth Chile that is now in dairy, price $270k Us. He is a local though and those locals love it when a Gringo comes into town especially if hes fat and has a wadge of notes in his back pocket ,they know how to milk those guy's.
Happy travels Andrew, I always enjoy my time in Chile, but find it hard not to get excited at what a 'kiwi' would consider agricultural potential. No doubt you will be driving past some of the Manuka group, and Chilterra farms, they're pretty obvious through higher stocking rates relative to locals. I see Manuka is advertising for 'workers' in NZ, so you may pick up a bit of holiday work. A lovely drive is between Paillaco and Frutrono, particularly once you get to the lateral valley along the cordillera.
We have friends in Los Lagos ( fonterra have a Factory here) and spent some time in Panguipulli, I knew panguipulli before it had a coffee shop and when horses were tied up in the street and bullock carts were everywhere, I know the area well, this trip is to darkest Patagonia. We will visit the Chico region which I dont know at all. Ive just shorn my rams and the old back is a bit sensitive, great to live in a place where owners have BBQ's and drink wine while others do the work. I have a friend in Santiago who's with a University and another who has made alot of money in Mining. My wife has a friend who married a seriously wealthy Chilean, so it will be good to catch up and see what they are up to. I suspect a few more guards with M16's on the gate and extra dogs. I made a friend in Argentina and she lives just over the boarder and thinks we can walk across and she will pick us up, dont know how customs views that, may give it a try.
Sounds exciting Andrew, and I'm sure you'll enjoy many wines over an asado. I particularly like the longanesa. Why is it that marginal land in NZ is in demand for C trading when, the same money would buy more hectares in Patagonia for the same purpose?
You're not tempted to look at dairying, once Fonterra locks in it's capital with TAF, Chile may be a target for it's 'behinnd boarders' strategy to secure milk and 'grow' the company (co-operative??), provided China doesn't attract all the focus.
Aj, no Taharua, 2500 dairy cows, was never part of Poronui but i think the front of Poronui is now dairy support for the neighbouring dairy farm which milks around 5000 cows through a couple of big rotary sheds, both these dairys form the western boundary of Lochinver stn, and the remainder of Poronui went into pines...i think?!....Taharua is good contour just will need a boat load of yaun to get it humming!
The Aussies are on to it.
ASIO now targeting Chinese investors
http://www.smh.com.au/national/asio-now-targeting-chinese-investors-201…
Far too sensible for NZ though. John dickless Key would be concerned he might offend someone, somewhere. And that just wouldn't do.
Foreign ownership of Aussie land: the peril of selling the farm
http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/06/16/foreign-ownership-of-aussie-land-th…
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