Fay loses on Crafar farms at Court of Appeal

Stuff reports:

Iwi challenging Shanghai Pengxin’s purchase of the 16 Crafar farms say they will consider an appeal against the Court of Appeal decision if they believe their case has been overlooked, but they are still open to negotiating with the Chinese company to purchase two of the farms which are central to their case.

The Court of Appeal has dismissed legal challenges from a group led by Sir Michael Fay and two Maori trusts against the long-running attempt by Chinese company Shanghai Pengxin to buy the Crafar farms.

Good. They were trying to get the farms cheap by knocking out a company that was willing to offer more.

In its decision released this morning the Court of Appeal said Pengxin’s bosses had sufficient business experience and acumen to run the farming business and surpass the OIO’s requirements.

The Court said the Government’s conclusion that the investment would bring substantial and identifiable benefit to New Zealand had not been challenged.

I think the partnership between Landcorp and Shanghai Pengxin has huge potential for the future.