New Chinese bid for NZ dairies

China’s Pengxin International Group Limited of Shanghai is seeking to buy 16 New Zealand dairy farms following the Overseas Investment Office’s rejection of a bid by a Hong Kong company. The farms were liquidated over a year ago, with debts of NZ$200 million (EUR113.2m).
The bid for the farms by Hong Kong-registered Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings Ltd was rejected recently after the OIO said the company’s directors, including front woman May Wang, who is a New Zealand citizen, had failed the required ‘good character’ test. The Serious Fraud Office launched an inquiry into the company, and May Wang was declared bankrupt after another company failed and faces charges under the Companies Act.
The proposed deal for the first Chinese bid to buy into the New Zealand dairy industry, which is the country’s biggest export earner, has been highly controversial. Prime Minister John Key has said that New Zealanders do not want to end up as ‘tenants in their own country,’ and the government tightened regulations governing foreign purchases of farms.