By Gerhard Uys

Copyright farmersweekly

Reading Time: < 1 minute The Overseas Investment Office has given the Alliance-Dawn Meats deal the go-ahead. Alliance chair Mark Wynne told farmers at Southland roadshows this week that Delmec Unlimited, part of Dawn Meats Group, has been granted consent under the Overseas Investment Act 2005 to acquire up to 65% of the shares in Alliance Group Limited. The application was processed under the significant business assets and benefit to New Zealand farmland pathways, Wynne said. “The approval by OIO represents a significant milestone in the proposed strategic investment partnership process,” he said. The consent is subject to several conditions, including a minimum capital expenditure amount and conditions that cover the use of the residential land associated with some of the plants. The Dawn Meats investment is conditional on several requirements, including OIO approval and antitrust and merger clearances, which were also approved in Europe this week. Wynne told farmers the only hurdle to overcome now is consent from farmer shareholders, which means a yes vote from their side. One of the big changes for farmers is that Alliance shares will be transferred to the USX on a dollar-for-dollar basis, with trading confined to shareholders and qualifying suppliers. Wynne urged farmer shareholders not to dump shares. He said if farmers rush to dump shares the share value will drop, but if “people hold and there’s a good dividend streams over a period of time, the prices should come up. It’s the market at work right now, [there’s a] redemption risk, which is a challenge that all co-ops have [if] people rush for the door. If people rush to buy more, the price will go up.”