Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Rasmusen's Egg Farm seeks Commerce Commission approval for major North Island merger

Whanganui Chronicle
3 Aug, 2020 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Rasmusen's Egg Farm, owned by third-generation farmer Aaron Rasmusen, is looking to merge egg producation wholesale operations with Heyden Farms and Henergy Cage-Free. Photo / Bevan Conley

Rasmusen's Egg Farm, owned by third-generation farmer Aaron Rasmusen, is looking to merge egg producation wholesale operations with Heyden Farms and Henergy Cage-Free. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui egg farm Rasmusen's is seeking Commerce Commission clearance to merge its egg production and wholesale operations with two other North Island egg producers.

The proposal is to merge Rasmusen's Poultry Farms Ltd with Lichfields Heyden Farms and Masterton's Henergy Cage-Free Ltd.

The parties would merge the entirety of their operations into a single entity, transferring their shares and forming a new company called Better Eggs Ltd.

The application says the proposed merger will provide an entity with scale, balance-sheet strength and access to cost-effective production, allowing it to invest and innovate in ways that drive efficiencies.

Rasmusen's, which has been producing eggs in Whanganui for almost 80 years, is 100 per cent owned by third-generation poultry farmer Aaron Rasmusen.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It sells eggs under the Morning Harvest and New Day brands as part of the Independent Co-Operative, as does Heyden Farms.

The two are in the process of leaving the co-op, and will sell their respective shareholdings to facilitate the exit and give effect to the proposed merger.

Rasmusen's has a 6.8 per cent shareholding in the co-op.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Some physical assets owned Rasmusen's, Heyden Farms and Henergy will be sold directly to the new holding company as part of the merger.

The three businesses began discussions of a possible merger in mid-March.

Discover more

Rural Whanganui business thriving on social media

27 Jul 05:00 PM

Online scholarships for four from Whanganui and Ruapehu

31 Jul 05:00 PM

Small businesses get helping hand from Government

30 Jul 05:00 PM

Toy library set to mark 40th anniversary

02 Aug 05:00 PM

Rasmusen's declined to comment until the outcome of the proposed merger is finalised.

In the application, the three entities highlight several developments in the egg production and wholesale market.

Changes in regulations have meant traditional cage-farmed eggs are falling out of favour with supermarkets and consumers.

Eggs can be farmed in several different ways, including cage-farmed, barn-laid and free-range.

Cage-farming places laying birds in small, confined cages, and includes 'colony farming' where larger numbers of laying birds are housed in larger cages, providing more space for each bird.

Barn-laid eggs don't use cages but instead confine laying birds in an enclosed facility.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Free-range gives laying birds freedom to move around in outdoor areas.

Major supermarkets, which represent about 60 per cent of the buyers' market, have indicated they would not be stocking colony farmed eggs in the future.

Woolworths NZ, which also runs Countdown, SuperValue and FreshChoice, aims to stop stocking colony-farmed eggs by 2025.

Foodstuffs, which operates Four Square, New World and Pak'nSave, is aiming to do the same by 2028.

These moves are likely to make barn-laid and free-range eggs, which were previously viewed as premium in the marketplace, more mainstream.

A decision is due to be made by the Commerce Commission by September 18.

NewsletterClicker
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Kāinga Ora needs to be ‘responsive to need’, says minister

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

Work begins on key phase of port project

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

Pop star to speak on new book at Whanganui Literary Fest

04 Jul 04:57 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Kāinga Ora needs to be ‘responsive to need’, says minister

Kāinga Ora needs to be ‘responsive to need’, says minister

04 Jul 06:00 PM

'We want to take a very detailed specific look at what Whanganui needs' – Chris Bishop.

Work begins on key phase of port project

Work begins on key phase of port project

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Pop star to speak on new book at Whanganui Literary Fest

Pop star to speak on new book at Whanganui Literary Fest

04 Jul 04:57 PM
Premium
Gardening: Pruning deciduous fruit trees and roses

Gardening: Pruning deciduous fruit trees and roses

04 Jul 04:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP