Fonterra bosses’ mission to sell the $4.2b divestment plan
Fonterra chair Peter McBride, fellow directors and the management team, will front up farmer shareholders next week to explain the metrics around the proposed $4.22 billion divestment plan.
The closed tender bid process for the Gold3 licence for attracted strong participation, with over 1000 growers bidding for licence, Zespri says.
One aspect of the tender process is a good spread of hectares among growers, with 266 successful bids and an average size of bids well under 2ha for each category, it says in its Kiwiflier newsletter.
Zespri chairman Peter McBride says, "It is satisfying to see relatively broad participation in the process. The level of participation and the high median price of successful bids reflect, I believe, the strong level of confidence in the product."
The average size of the successful bid was 1.31ha for the restricted tender (for Green and Green14 conversions) and 1.77ha for the unrestricted tender.
The result indicates a good level of accessibility in the process, with just one successful bid for more than 10ha of licence. Both the restricted and unrestricted tenders were oversubscribed, and the available area was allocated to the highest priced valid bids.
The regional spread of licence allocation was concentrated in the Bay of Plenty but there were allocations also in Gisborne, Waikato, Auckland, Coromandel, Hawkes Bay and Northland.
Zespri will provide an update on the performance of Gold3 in the markets later in the season. It is expected that in November there will be sufficient information to provide the industry a clear signal regarding the potential release of Gold3 hectares
According to ASB, Fonterra's plan to sell it's Anchor and Mainlands brands could inject $4.5 billion in additional spending into the economy.
New Zealand’s trade with the European Union has jumped $2 billion since a free trade deal entered into force in May last year.
The climate of uncertainty and market fragmentation that currently characterises the global economy suggests that many of the European agricultural machinery manufacturers will be looking for new markets.
Dignitaries from all walks of life – the governor general, politicians past and present, Maoridom- including the Maori Queen, church leaders, the primary sector and family and friends packed Our Lady of Kapiti’s Catholic church in Paraparaumu on Thursday October 23 to pay tribute to former prime Minister, Jim Bolger who died last week.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister, Todd McClay is encouraging farmers, growers, and foresters not to take unnecessary risks, asking that they heed weather warnings today.
With nearly two million underutilised dairy calves born annually and the beef price outlook strong, New Zealand’s opportunity to build a scalable dairy-beef system is now.

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