Richard Inder: How many balls can Graeme Hart keep airborne?

Graeme Hart's decision to return Goodman Fielder to the sharemarket must give the willies to minority investors in his other interests - forestry giant Carter Holt Harvey and Australian food group Burns Philp.

This is the third deal in less than two months, prompting the question: how does the Kiwi entrepreneur keep so many balls in the air?

Hart opened the year in talks with a number of suitors to sell New Zealand Dairy Foods, 100 per cent owned by his private company Rank.

Last month, after failing to convince anyone to take the company whole, he negotiated a complicated asset swap with Fonterra. Hart, among other things, gets Kiwi Meats and the Meadow Fresh and Tararua dairy brands and gives up Fresh 'n Fruity and Anchor.

Next he struck a deal to take control of CHH, buying International Paper's controlling stake. At the same time, he offered to buy out the remaining shareholders in a deal that values CHH at $3.3 billion.

As soon as the money changed hands (at the start of this month for the reconstituted NZDF and just over a week ago for CHH), his team began restructuring in earnest. The most public move is the closure of a dairy factory in Christchurch, but last night's disclosure of layoffs at a central North Island CHH mill hint that this is the tip of the iceberg.

All the while Hart has been negotiating this latest deal with Burns Philp. But rapid-fire deal-making is not sufficient reason for shareholders to cash out. Hart has so far proved himself an adept dealer and this move has logic.

He achieves a long-held ambition for Rank to quit its NZDF investment, leaving it free to focus on CHH. Given its size and scope, CHH is likely to be a complicated and lengthy project. Hart is already facing union troubles at several sites round the country.

Burns Philp minority shareholders also stand to gain if all goes according to plan.

They will share with Hart any benefits that come with the reorganisation of NZDF. Retaining an interest in the reborn Goodman Fielder, they get the benefits of scale that come from joining Burns Philp's assets with the reconstituted NZDF.

Finally, cash is released for Burns Philp to pursue more lucrative opportunities.

Meanwhile, Fonterra must be looking at Hart's move with some trepidation. In 2002, it sold a half share of NZDF in a deal that valued the business at $310 million. Three years later, it bought back most of the same business for $754 million and faced considerable criticism.

In less than three months, it may face a similar reckoning on the Meadow Fresh assets, when Goodman Fielder floats. The price Goodman Fielder achieves at flotation will determine how much Burns Philp pays Rank for the Meadow Fresh assets.

If Hart captures value in Meadow Fresh, dairy farmers will call Fonterra directors to account.