Business Leader of the Year Award: Dean Hamilton

This week we are celebrating excellence in leadership as we publish the nominees for the 2015 Business Leader of the Year.

Past winners of the award include Graeme Hart, Lloyd Morrison, Christopher Luxon and Rod Drury. The winner will be revealed on Saturday in the Weekend Herald.

The chief executive of Silver Fern Farms has steered the company through a capital-raising process that ultimately resulted in China's Shanghai Maling Aquarius taking a 50 per cent stake.

Dean Hamilton took over from Keith Cooper in October last year, as the company was making big inroads into its debt mountain.

Under Hamilton, that process continued apace. In the year to September, Silver Fern's net profit before tax came to $27.2 million, up from $1.8 million in 2014. At the same time, Silver Fern reduced its net debt from $289 million in 2014 to $121 million.

The reduction was achieved through greater profitability, reduced inventory, the sale of non-core assets and winding down its investment in its dairy bull beef scheme.

Hamilton and chairman Rob Hewett embarked on a nationwide roadshow to sell the Shanghai Maling proposition to Silver Fern's 16,000 or so sheep, cattle and deer farmer shareholders.

There was strong opposition from some quarters but when it came to the vote, shareholders were overwhelmingly in favour.

Shanghai Maling's $261 million investment will make Silver Fern debt-free and, according to Hewett, put the company in the strongest financial position since it was established 75 years ago.