Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today / Business

Wool Co hopes $40m bid has Fonterra type success

PATRICK O'SULLIVAN - Business Editor
Hawkes Bay Today·
22 Sep, 2011 09:14 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article

New Zealand Wool Investment Company (Wool Co) has set out to raise $40 million in capital to buy New Zealand Wool Services International (WSI), hoping to emulate the success of Fonterra.

Wool Co is a new entity, jointly owned by publicly listed Wool Equities Ltd (WEL) and Christchurch-based investment bank Ocean Partners.

Wool Equities was formed after the disestablishment of the New Zealand Wool Board in 2003 and has more than 9500 farmer shareholders.

In July it announced that it had funding for a rival bid to Cavalier Wool Holdings' offer of $40 million for the assets of WSI.

The High Court has temporarily delayed any sale of WSI to Cavalier until there is an outcome to a challenge from transtasman carpet-maker Godfrey Hirst to the Commerce Commission's approval of Cavalier's offer.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Cavalier applied for clearance from the commission after it was announced a combined two-thirds stake in WSI was on the market after the receivership of two Allan Hubbard-related companies - Plum Duff and Woolpak.

If Wool Co raises the funds, it plans to make an offer to the receivers of Plum Duff and Woolpak for the WSI shares.

If the offer is accepted, it is intended that WEL will then purchase the shareholding from Wool Co, resulting in a merger of the two publicly listed wool companies.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

WSI chairman Derek Kirke has said the WEL proposal was not a WSI initiative and the board of WSI learned about it at the same time as the public.

WSI has reported pressure from a number of its shareholders and other investors, who were keen to avoid a Cavalier Wool Holdings wool scour monopoly, to proceed with a WSI capital raising. Mr Kirke said the matter was under consideration.

Kevin Arscott, director of WEL, said a unified approach from New Zealand wool growers was needed. "Fonterra have shown what is possible when farmers are unified in the international markets. It is time for wool growers to follow the way," he said.

A full takeover of WSI would require a 90 per cent shareholder approval.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Business

Hawkes Bay Today

Christchurch hosts PGG's first national wool auction

30 Apr 10:03 PM
Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Not quite free trade, but apple growers welcome reduced 25% tariff to India

29 Apr 06:00 PM
Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Three Napier brothers are serving ‘NZ-style’ ice cream to celebrities. This is what their LA life is like

27 Apr 10:00 PM

Sponsored

Endangered bird gets another chance

21 Apr 02:30 AM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Christchurch hosts PGG's first national wool auction
Hawkes Bay Today

Christchurch hosts PGG's first national wool auction

The first national sale in Christchurch moved more than 9000 bales for $6.6m.

30 Apr 10:03 PM
Premium
Premium
Not quite free trade, but apple growers welcome reduced 25% tariff to India
Hawkes Bay Today

Not quite free trade, but apple growers welcome reduced 25% tariff to India

29 Apr 06:00 PM
Premium
Premium
Three Napier brothers are serving ‘NZ-style’ ice cream to celebrities. This is what their LA life is like
Hawkes Bay Today

Three Napier brothers are serving ‘NZ-style’ ice cream to celebrities. This is what their LA life is like

27 Apr 10:00 PM


Endangered bird gets another chance
Sponsored

Endangered bird gets another chance

21 Apr 02:30 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • NZME Digital Performance Marketing
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2026 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP