Fonterra divestment ‘not about waving the white flag’, says chief executive Miles Hurrell

• Fonterra seeks strong support from farmer shareholders for divesting its consumer brands and Oceania assets.
• Chief executive Miles Hurrell emphasised the need for a strong mandate to proceed with the proposal.
• Hurrell argues a simplified co-operative structure would enable faster growth in new areas.

Fonterra will be seeking “strong support” from farmer shareholders when the board puts a proposal to them for the divestment of its consumer brands and the co-operative’s Oceania division assets in Australia and New Zealand.

“If you’re getting 50% plus a tickle-up, it doesn’t really give you the mandate or the endorsement,” Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell told BusinessDesk.

“We’d be seeking something from farmer shareholders that gives us the strong support that we want, to go forward with this.”

Hurrell and his management team have been building a case to those shareholders that a simplified co-operative structure would support faster growth.

“It’s not about waving a white flag, it’s about saying we’re going to go harder and faster on new areas. It starts with what we’re good at,” Hurrell said.

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