A group of Chinese companies is rolling out more premium UHT milk and planning a new "fashion milk" from its 29 New Zealand farms, almost entirely for the Chinese market.
China's richest man, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, slipped into New Zealand incognito last month. The founder of the world's largest retailer, which specialises in e-commerce, was in Waikato during Chinese New Year to check out his latest investment.
Fonterra's owners are worried about the cooperative's $800m investment in establishing dairy farms in China, which yielded only $1m in earnings last year, despite a $38m subsidy of their operations by Fonterra's China ingredients division.
Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board, got a green light to buy a medium-sized New Zealand dairy farm and a neighbouring dairy support block in Canterbury for $17.7 million just ahead of tougher requirements on land sales to foreign buyers.
New Zealand's Overseas Investment Office is considering the sale of Harvard University's 5,500-head dairy farms in the South Island to a Singapore-based investor.
Associate Finance Minister David Parker says "New Zealanders should not be outbid by "one percenters" from overseas" when it comes to farmland.
The Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA) is very pleased that the Government announced that, as of December 2017, the rules around foreigners buying NZ farmland have been tightened up.
The Government will clarify the criteria for foreigners buying New Zealand farmland in the coming days, and in the longer-term tighten how easily that land can be purchased by overseas buyers.
The New Zealand Superannuation Fund has made its first offshore farm investment, taking a stake in Australian beef stud Palgrove for an undisclosed amount.
Agribusiness represents a substantial opportunity as well as a priority or even a problem for investors in Asia
Private-equity giant KKR nears $70 million deal for some of the endowment’s farm holdings, including 8,500 acres of dairy farms on the South Island of New Zealand
The New Zealand Superannuation Fund, which has bought up 21 local dairy farms as part of its push into rural land investment, is looking outside the dairy sector for its next foray, eyeing land used for beef and permanent crops and expansion into Australia.
