Ngai Tahu Holdings is to take a stake in rural services company PGG Wrightson through a joint venture with Chinese companies Agria Corp and New Hope Group.
Ngai Tahu is planning to spend $15 million to buy a 7.09 percent stake in the holding company of Agria Singapore, which today announced
it had received acceptances for 52.15 percent shares in PGG Wrightson.
Under Agria's offer it can only obtain a maximum of 50.01 percent of the shares in PGG Wrightson, which means acceptances will be subject to scaling.
On Friday Agria said the Overseas Investment Office had granted consent for the partial takeover.
Today Ngai Tahu Holdings said it had finalised negotiations to take a $15m cornerstone shareholding in the joint venture vehicle between the Agria group and New Hope, which in turn owned the Agria vehicle that had made the partial takeover for PGG Wrightson.
It was intended to seek PGG Wrightson shareholder approval of the Ngai Tahu Holdings involvement in the next six to eight weeks.
Ngai Tahu Holdings chairman Trevor Burt said the proposition was an opportunity for the company to diversify its portfolio of investments and build global relationships.
The proposition supported Ngai Tahu Holdings' emerging rural strategy, which was in a trial stage, with the company working on the development of an environmentally sustainable rural business model.
Ngai Tahu Holdings had full confidence in the board and management of PGG Wrightson under the stewardship of new managing director George Gould, and supported its strategy for growth, Mr Burt said.
Ngai Tahu Holdings chief executive Greg Campbell said the new stake was less than 2 percent of Ngai Tahu's portfolio. It created significant long term opportunities and relationships, particularly in the Chinese market, where Ngai Tahu already had a strong presence through its tourism and seafood businesses.
``This is an extremely valuable proposition from a strategic and relationship perspective and it is great to be able to announce this joint venture particularly given the recent tragic events in Christchurch,'' Mr Campbell said.
