KEY POINTS:
The meat industry is still waiting to see if rural services business PGG Wrightson can save its plan to buy half of meat processor co-operative Silver Fern Farms.
The Weekend Herald understands talks are now likely to continue into next week.
NZX-listed PGG Wrightson agreed to buy half of Silver Fern Farms for $220 million through a mixture of capital raising and debt, with $145 million due last Tuesday and $75 million due by March.
The deal - promoted as creating a plate-to-pasture supply chain and a platform for rationalisation - stalled with chairman Craig Norgate saying banks that had been committed to fund the deal were unable to finalise credit approvals in time for the part-settlement.
He blamed the extreme financial market conditions and their effect on banks' lending capacity.
Most farmers were encouraging and expecting PGG Wrightson to get the deal back on track, Norgate said.
"It's quite overwhelming the degree of support," he said. "I think people now have got their heads around it and really want to see it happen."
PGG Wrightson had a responsibility to try but it also had to be sensible, Norgate said.
"You can't take forever and you can't take too many risks in the current market environment."
