Tui shareholders get their day in court today - for the second time.
A civil action by more than 200 former Tui dairy farmers is due to start in the High Court at Wellington.
Spokesman Jim Hedley said the case would reveal the truth behind the takeover of the Tui Dairy
Company and its Manawatu and Wairarapa suppliers by the Taranaki-based Kiwi Co-operative Dairies in 1996.
Farmers have said the biggest issue at stake was that a 60c/kg of milksolids differential meant they were effectively paying to join Kiwi.
But a July 1999 bid to get access to documents on the merger failed because the High Court ruled that the Coalition of Concerned Dairy Farmers had taken too long to bring the case.
A report from accounting firm Ernst & Young, which found that the merger was fair and in the best interests of Tui shareholders, was also influential.
The 600-strong coalition was reportedly seeking $200 million from Kiwi for damages and lost earnings.
In the course of the latest action, Kiwi has written to all its shareholders, indicating that the former Tui shareholders could face substantial costs if they were unsuccessful.
Mr Hedley has published an open letter to Kiwi chairman Greg Gent in newspaper advertisements which rejected a settlement in advance of the trial.
- NZPA
