New Zealand

Dubai World said on Friday the company was not involved in the dairy farm purchases "in any way".

The Serious Fraud Office has been brought into the controversy over a Maori trust's move to buy thousands of hectares of prime Southland farmland, after revelations that an alleged fraudster is involved: bankrupt Australian "kaumatua" Shane Wenzel.

Mr Murray, spokesman for the Maori trust buying farms for foreign investors, told the Southland Times website he would buy the whole South Island if he could.

Federated Farmers is urging farmers to conduct due diligence after reports that a Maori trust, with reputed backing from Dubai World, has been contracted to buy 28 farms in Southland

The Maori trust has contracted to buy nearly 30,000ha of dairy, sheep, beef and deer farms throughout Southland, but some sellers have raised queries ranging from delays confirming the sales contracts to deposits not being paid as expected.

New Zealand needs to tighten its rules around overseas investment as China and the Gulf States go on a world-wide shopping spree for prime land, said Green Party Co-Leader Dr Russel Norman.

Agro-Ecological Investment Management, a private equity and real estate asset management company based in London, will launch its first fund in the first quarter of 2010, with a target of between $50m and $60m.

"Al Shariqi said that while the government does not have foreign agricultural investments, some UAE sheikhs personally own land in Pakistan, Egypt, Australia and New Zealand," reports the US mission in Abu Dhabi

Cash-rich overseas pension funds and investors have been scouting for New Zealand dairy farm investments,

While everyone from the Rothschild’s – via the Agrifirma Brazil fund, run with Jim Slater – through to Nicola Horlick and UBS are snapping up farmland in Brazil, I’m fascinated by another niche: Canada and New Zealand.

Despite criticism for Chinese efforts to acquire large-scale farmland in Africa, China is seen continuing to aggressively pursue acquisitions in other countries. says Michael Whitehead, executive director of the food and agribusiness research and advisory unit at Rabobank International.

The next six to 12 months may be the best time in five years to buy a dairy farm or a share in one, according to investment company MyFarm in New Zealand. The global recession has not changed anything.