Iwi think Chinese Crafar bid will go through

Friday, February 17, 2012 9:42

Allan Crafar

A spokesman for the iwi consortium bidding for a slice of the Crafar farms doesn't have much confidence the Government will change its former position of rubber stamping a Chinese sale offer.

Hardie Peni is part of the tribal consortium made up of Maori land trusts from Ngati Tuwharetoa, Ngati Rereahu and another group that Mr Pene said does not want to be publicly identified.

Mr Peni who is part of two Rereahu trusts which took the matter, along with Sir Michael Fay, to the High Court said the iwi consortium wanted six or seven of the 16 dairy and drystock farms.

It bid roughly $28,000 a hectare for between 3000 to 4000 hectares putting the consortium's contribution between $84 million and $112 million.

The Government reappraisal of Shanghai Pengxin's subsidiary Milk NZ's bid to buy the farms will be complete within days following the embarrassing court decision setting aside ministerial approval.

Mr Pene said he was happy with the decision especially given that many had written off any chance of success through the courts.

However, it amounted to a temporary reprieve as the odds were that the Government would still overlook the domestic bid, he said.

"There is a clear indication that John Key is not going to be moved on any matter and it's just going to be academic."

-APNZ