Paparoa farm sold to Swiss forestry firm for more than $7 million

The vendor was given as Martinvale Farms Ltd and the sale price as $7,140,000.

A 450-hectare beef and dairy farm near Paparoa has been sold to a Swiss forestry company for just over $7 million.

An Overseas Investment Office (OIO) report shows approval was given in June last year to sell the property at 20 Taylor Rd, about 26 kilometres from Paparoa and 30km from Maungaturoto, to Kauri Forestry LP.

Kauri Forestry is a limited partnership which is 93 per cent Swiss-owned and 7 per cent German.

The vendor was given as Martinvale Farms Ltd and the sale price as $7,140,000.

According to the OIO, Kauri Forestry intended to plant about 145ha as a commercial forest.

A further 206ha, including three existing dwellings, would be subdivided and sold.

The remaining 103ha would be made up of native bush, gullies, steep land, setbacks and riparian planting.

A real estate listing shows the property was sold by Barfoot & Thompson in June.

The listing stated the farm had a dairy unit on the front 190ha, two comfortable three-bedroom homes, a herringbone milking shed, and the usual array of farm buildings.

The OIO report shows Kauri Forestry has a “standing consent” under the ‘special forestry test’ issued in March 2021. That consent allows the company to buy up to 6000ha of land in up to 20 transactions by September 30 this year.

A law change in September last year, the Overseas Investment (Forestry) Amendment Act 2022, brought in stricter tests for overseas buyers looking to convert land into new production forestry.

It reversed a streamlined special forestry test introduced in 2018 to encourage investment in forestry land.