KEY POINTS:
The now-failed meat industry mega merger was born in February with a hiss and roar but has imploded amid accusation and recrimination.
Alliance Group failed to get commitment from all five companies being targeted - which had included rival co-operative PPCS.
Last Friday, Alliance said the concept would
not progress any further with PPCS not prepared to commit to the process or accept the likelihood that not all beef processing would be included.
This week, PPCS issued a letter detailing its grievances and saying it could be concluded that the concept was poorly managed, constructed and failure was inevitable, with PPCS to take the blame.
Alliance replied saying it deeply regretted the damage done by PPCS to the concept, the industry's credibility and the breach of goodwill with other players.
This is not the first time a major restructure of the industry has failed to materialise, with Alliance last year turning down a possible merger with PPCS.
Alliance's five-way merger concept originally proposed a single entity managing 80 per cent of sheepmeat supply, with similar amounts for beef and venison.
The level of beef inclusion has been a sticking point.
Alliance chairman Owen Poole says the amount of beef would have been significant, although less than 80 per cent.
The original concept is now basically dead with no discussions underway with PPCS, although other parties agreed there were other opportunities to explore and evaluate, Poole says.
Any other opportunity was unlikely to involve PPCS initially, he says.
"It would be hard to put together at the moment."
Meat & Wool New Zealand chairman Mike Petersen describes the situation as almost vitriolic.
"We just all need to sit back and everyone needs to breath through their nose for a little bit because some of the comments in the papers has been pretty inflammatory," Petersen said.
Last year's failed merger proposal would have delivered 35 per cent of beef, with the latest concept delivering nearly 50 per cent, he says.
"Farmers are asking me the question ... how come if it was such a compelling case last year with just the two companies can it be not compelling now."
PPCS chief executive Keith Cooper says the two proposals were absolutely different models.
"The mega merger was about bringing five companies together, removing the fragmentation in the industry and removing the overhead costs of those five companies," Cooper says. "As soon as you don't have all five companies in with all of their products we couldn't get all the gains."
