KEY POINTS:
The radical listing proposal put forward by Fonterra directors today would be less like a shot in the arm for the local stock market, more like a heart, lung and kidney transplant.
It looks like a life saver for this tiny South Pacific market which is fighting to hold on to its last six or seven world class, blue chip stocks.
But Mark Weldon and his buddies at the NZX won't want to start popping the champagne just yet.
Any listing is still two years away. That's how long Fonterra's poltically astute chairman Henry van der Heyden has anticpated it will take to sell farmers on the idea. That's also an indication of how tough a task he must believe this to be.
The proposal van der Heyden has unveiled to farmers goes further than most in the industry will have anticipated.
That ups the risk that it may not make it over the line. The constitutional change requires 75 per cent of farmers to support it - a big margin by any electoral standards.
And it goes further than the float of just Fonterra's high risk, higher return Brands business, that some farmers have lobbied for.
It advocates sticking with one giant comapany - and listing the whole thing.
There are farmers who will literally be in shock today. No one especially, van der Heyden will be expecting a chorus of support to herald the company in to the arms of the investment bankers.
This is as big a decision for farmers as was the original amalgamation to form Fonterra back in 2000, van der Heyden said.
That means we can expect an enormous war of words to rage in the agricultural sector for the next two years as the process goes through the hoops.
Last time around there was name calling, allegations of corporate fraud, fist fights and an awful lot of shouting at public meetings.
Its unlikely this process will be any less fraught.
Fonterra has thus far been a success. It has been able to efficiently reap the rewards of a commodity boom. Sounds boring - it has just done its job.
But then how many times have we seen New Zealand companies fail to cash in on fair winds.
The last 10 years has been a revolutionary boom time for the telco sector and what legacy will Telecom leave us.
The board should commended for taking this bold step - now let the games begin.
