Luxtons buy farm for $6m

Former National Party Cabinet minister John Luxton and his two brothers were the mystery buyers of the blue-chip Waikato dairy farm that sold for $6.62 million this month.

The highly anticipated auction of the farm with a coveted shareholder-supply deal with the country's top-paying dairy company, Tatua, ended with a record price and a promise by Bayleys Real Estate not to disclose the buyers.

At least three Tatua consortiums and one individual Tatua bidder competed at the auction after owners Colin and Fiona Hicks turned down a $6 million offer from a non-Tatua supplier.

Mr Luxton confirmed that he and brothers Rodney and Bruce were the buyers, continuing an 80-year-old family link with Tatua. Mr Luxton is a former Tatua chairman.