Silver Fern shares for farmers

Meat company Silver Fern Farms' capital restructure, announced late last week, will see new shares issued to existing farmer shareholders rather than the public, the company confirmed yesterday.

Plans for the capital raising were disclosed late on Friday with the company's interim results almost as an appendix to an announcement the company had reached an agreement with PGG Wrightson over the rural services company's abortive merger plan last year.

Chairman Eoin Garden said Silver Fern Farms was "currently evaluating capital raising options to ensure capital adequacy, fund the business reinvestment programme going forward and insulate the company from the potential risk associated with the international credit crunch".

Chief executive Keith Cooper yesterday confirmed new shares would be issued to existing farmer members of the co-operative.

"The proposal is going to be around creating a new class of shares, bringing them together under one class," said Cooper.

The company planned to launch the capital restructuring and governance review to shareholders in July.