Silver Fern Farms vote in favour of joint venture

Shareholders in New Zealand's biggest meat processor, Silver Fern Farms, have voted in favour of a 50/50 joint venture with China's Shanghai Maling Aquarius, which will give the company a $261 million capital injection.

The motion was a carried by a majority of 82.22 per cent a special meeting at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.

More than 160 Silver Fern Farms suppliers and shareholders attended the meeting. Photo / Craig Baxter

Shanghai Maling, an offshoot of state-owned Bright Food Group, is offering to invest $261 million in Silver Fern Farms, which is New Zealand's second biggest primary produce exporter after Fonterra.

Silver Fern has said the deal will make the company debt free and will put money in the bank by the year's end.

The deal is subject to approval of Shanghai Maling's shareholders, and to regulatory approvals from New Zealand and Chinese authorities.

Labour leader Andrew Little said he had not yet seen the full details of the deal that had been voted on.

"The reality is, this is one of our largest meat companies, now 50 per cent owned offshore.

"The real risk is that, notwithstanding the capital injection to the company and the extra cash that will now go to farmer suppliers, is that Silver Fern farms gets locked into being a producer of low-value products, rather than the high-value product that we actually need our meat industry to be getting into."