Co-ops fight for all they are worth

New Zealand’s two largest dairy processing companies, New Zealand Dairy Group and Kiwi Co-operative Dairies, have failed to agree upon valuations during talks aimed at bringing them together as a single entity.
New Zealand Dairy Board chairman Graham Fraser has called for an independent valuation as a means of breaking the deadlock.
The huge tie-up is part of New Zealand’s plan to bring its export dairy industry together into one company in a mega-merger.
The intention is to form one NZ$8 billion (3.76b Euros) export- oriented milk products company, with part of its domestic production sold off to preserve competition in the domestic market.
Dairy is the country’s largest export sector, accounting for around 20% of its 11 billion Euros exports.