Sanford's boss wins seat on new board

By PAULA OLIVER

An intense battle for control of a Canadian fishing company partly owned by New Zealand company Sanford has ended with Sanford's managing director Eric Barratt winning a seat on the board.

Newfoundland-based Fishery Products International (FPI), in which Sanford holds a 14.8 per cent stake, catches, processes and markets fish in the United States, Canada, China and Europe.

It became the centre of a shareholder revolt in March, when three companies owning significant stakes agreed to put forward an alternative board of directors for election.

FPI's directors fought the proposal, and Sanford, FPI's largest shareholder, took a neutral stance.

Mr Barratt's name was put on both proposed lists of directors - a move described as absurd by FPI's chief executive.

But yesterday Mr Barratt's each-way bet won him a place on the board, when FPI's shareholders voted overwhelmingly in support of the break-away director slate.

Mr Barratt said he now looked forward to building the company with the new board.

Sanford investigated FPI as part of its expansion plans in 1999, and gradually built up its stake over the past year. Newfoundland law prevents any party holding more than 15 per cent of FPI, but analysts say Sanford may be keen to increase its stake if that law could be relaxed.

Yesterday, they were undecided on where the new board at FPI left Sanford's plans. One said it may be more difficult to increase the stake now because the other new board members seemed keen to increase their own stakes.