Chinese-backed bid for Crafar farms back with OIO

The Chinese-backed bid to buy 16 Crafar family farms in receivership has been relodged with the Overseas Investment Office.

The move by Chinese-owned Natural Dairy NZ comes a day after state owned enterprise Landcorp confirmed that it would be lodging a bid for the 13 dairy farms and three drystock properties before today's 4pm deadline.

The farms have a projected production for the 2010/11 season of 4.9 million kilograms of milksolids.

Natural Dairy NZ chairman Graham Chin said he was confident his company's offer would give the best return to creditors. Natural Dairy NZ has signed a sale and purchase agreement which is conditional on Overseas Investment Office approval.

UBNZ, the parent company of Natural Dairy NZ, has lost its two New Zealand directors. Ralph Ngatata Love and Keith Rushbrook are both reported to have stepped down from the board.

Prime Minister John Key told Radio New Zealand yesterday morning that the Landcorp bid was a "sensible move".

"I don't think it means that those Crafar farms in receivership will be sold to Landcorp and it's not just the Chinese bid - there's also, as I understand it, other bids," Key said.

Meanwhile, the Green Party is calling on the Government to tighten laws governing overseas investment.

Co-leader Russel Norman said the Landcorp bid was a short-term solution and there was still an "open invitation for the rest of the world to buy up New Zealand".

- Staff reporter