Natural Dairy NZ Holdings lodges application to buy Crafar farms

Wednesday 24th March 2010

Natural Dairy NZ Holdings today lodged an application with the Overseas Investment Office after announcing plans to buy the Crafar family’s farms as part of a $1.5 billion buy-up of land, stock and milk production plants in New Zealand.

Annelies McClure, manager at the OIO, confirmed the department received an application today, though she was unable to provide any details regarding the value of the assets or the parties involved.

Natural Dairy NZ, a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands that recently changed its name from China Jin Hui Mining Corp., entered into an agreement on Feb. 11 to buy UBNZ Assets Holdings, which includes the 22 Crafar family farms, according to a Bloomberg report.

The deal will be settled through cash and a convertible bond issue, though no further details were given regarding the details, the company said a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The deal is for the “purpose of conducting dairy business in New Zealand,” the company said in its statement.

In October, Crafar Farms was put into receivership by banks owed about $200 million amid a Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry investigation over alleged animal welfare lapses.

Businesswire.co.nz

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