Battle over PPCS was worth it says Bell

By LIAM DANN

Robin Bell may have conceded defeat in his fight to keep meat company Richmond out of the clutches of southern rival PPCS, but the Hawkes Bay lawyer says he wouldn't hesitate do it all again.

The Bell Group - eight shareholders, who between them held just 1.5 per cent of shares in Richmond - took a stand against PPCS' takeover bid and continued the legal battle against the southern co-operative even after Richmond management had given it away.

Despite failing to stop the takeover Bell says he is proud of what the group achieved.

"We ensured they had to pay top price. Effectively people got $3.33 [$3.11 plus a 22c special dividend]," he said. "We've achieved a very good result for the large number of small shareholders."

It was always preferable for PPCS to be either completely in or completely out of Richmond, Bell said.

"So while this is not the objective we'd have preferred to achieve, it's a very good second best."

After PPCS' control of Richmond was reinstated by an Appeal Court decision, the Bell group began pushing it to make the full takeover offer.

"We indicated we would launch litigation to force them to go for the full takeover. It may not have happened otherwise," Bell said "They certainly took their time about it."

PPCS has always maintained that the Bell group had no influence on its decision to launch the bid.

Even with the benefit of hindsight Bell says he - and all the members of his group - do not regret taking up the fight.

But now he's happy to look forward - even to the point of wanting to see the new owners do well.

"We hope that Richmond does well under PCCS' management for the sake of the people who work there and for the sake of the farming community," he said. "A strong competitor offering high prices for farmers is good for the community as a whole."

But he would keep his eye on proceedings.

"We'd be pretty upset if we saw the juicy deals going south and the company being raided."

Bell believes the idea to bring the co-operative structure to Richmond now makes sense.

PPCS chief operating officer Keith Cooper has said that the company will look at systems to allow North Island farmers to become shareholders and benefit from the rebate profit-sharing system that PPCS runs.

"I hope it goes down that track and I hope that local people do become shareholders," Bell said.

"Because every company needs a source of investment. It's no good farmers producing stock unless there are modern works there to kill them and maximise the returns. That takes capital and lots of it ... the co-op thing may be one way to do that."

It was interesting to note that we could end up with three co-operatives and only one listed meat company (Affco) left in the country, he said.

But for PPCS to achieve its goals in Hawkes Bay it would have to overcome what he called a goodwill deficit.

"Richmond has always had a good relationship between staff, the suppliers and shareholders. It was a very happy company in that sense. I'd like to think that atmosphere won't disappear."

Bell says he is not entirely convinced PPCS has learned from the messy takeover process.