Silver Fern China buy in result due today

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Shareholders in New Zealand's biggest meat processor, Silver Fern Farms, gather in Dunedin today to decide on whether China's Shanghai Maling Aquarius can take a 50 per cent stake in the company.

A special meeting is scheduled for Forsyth Barr Stadium, starting at 10.30 am, and a result is expected today. Proxy and internet voting closed on Wednesday. The deal requires a simple majority of over 50 per cent to succeed.

Shanghai Maling, a unit of state-owned Bright Food Group, is offering to invest $261 million in Silver Fern Farms, which is New Zealand's second biggest primary produce exporter after Fonterra.

Shareholders will also vote on another resolution, put forward by a group of shareholders, seeking full analysis of the benefits and risks of a merger with Invercargill-based Alliance Group.

Alliance has confirmed it had submitted a bid for Silver Fern Farms before the capital-raising process got under way.

West Otago farmer Allan Richardson, who with other shareholders formed a group to oppose the Shanghai Maling deal, said it should stand as a warning to all farmer co-operatives about their vulnerability to outside interests.

"Which will be the next co-operative to fall to foreign control," Richardson said in a statement. "The Shanghai Maling/Silver Fern Farms deal shows us all co-ops can be brought out at a price," he says.

The deal is subject to approval from Shanghai Maling's shareholders, and to New Zealand and Chinese regulatory consents.