All options are back on the table for capital restructure at Fonterra with the board's preferred option now "parked".
Chairman Henry van der Heyden said the board would go back and review all other options and was open to any alternatives farmers felt had not been considered.
"The
preferred option's been parked," van der Heyden said. "We've got to go back and review everything."
In November, Fonterra announced a preferred capital restructure to deal with issues of capital for growth and redemption risk, which would have created a company to hold all assets and listed on the stock exchange.
Two votes had been expected under the process _ one in May to create the two-entity structure and another in 2010 to decide whether to list.
In February, Fonterra cancelled the May vote saying it was highly unlikely it would have got the 75 per cent approval required and needed more time for consultation before a final vote in 2010.
Nationwide meetings with farmers end today and the need for change had been accepted, van der Heyden said.
Fonterra Shareholders' Council chairman Blue Read said there was a sense of relief that the company was not trying to push through with the preferred option and were prepared to listen. "There is an acceptance that it is a genuine consultation process now," Read said. "They didn't feel confident that they had enough information and then I think that they would have enough time to consider it."
The board was being realistic about farmers attitudes to the preferred capital structure option, he said.
