Silver Fern China buy in result due today

Shareholders in New Zealand's biggest meat processor, Silver Fern Farms, gather in Dunedin today to decide on whether China's Shanghai Maling Aquarius can take a 50 per cent stake in the company.

A special meeting is scheduled for Forsyth Barr Stadium, starting at 10.30 am, and a result is expected today. Proxy and internet voting closed on Wednesday. The deal requires a simple majority of over 50 per cent to succeed.

Shanghai Maling, a unit of state-owned Bright Food Group, is offering to invest $261 million in Silver Fern Farms, which is New Zealand's second biggest primary produce exporter after Fonterra.

Shareholders will also vote on another resolution, put forward by a group of shareholders, seeking full analysis of the benefits and risks of a merger with Invercargill-based Alliance Group.

Alliance has confirmed it had submitted a bid for Silver Fern Farms before the capital-raising process got under way.

West Otago farmer Allan Richardson, who with other shareholders formed a group to oppose the Shanghai Maling deal, said it should stand as a warning to all farmer co-operatives about their vulnerability to outside interests.

"Which will be the next co-operative to fall to foreign control," Richardson said in a statement. "The Shanghai Maling/Silver Fern Farms deal shows us all co-ops can be brought out at a price," he says.

The deal is subject to approval from Shanghai Maling's shareholders, and to New Zealand and Chinese regulatory consents.