Crafar says overseas buyers may bail him out

Allan Crafar. Photo / Christine Cornege

Allan Crafar says he is locked in talks with overseas interests in an attempt to trade his way out of debt.

The Crafar family owes more than $200 million to PGG Wrightson, Westpac and RaboBank after its central North Island farms went into receivership in October last year.

Crafar said today he was in the process of getting money together from another source to pay the receivers out so that he and family members could stay on the land.

There were a few options, but two that were "fairly likely", he said.

Crafar said he expects to know in the next week or two whether any of those will eventuate.

"People ask me how I could get the $200 million. I got lent that money before, so someone had some faith in us," he said.

Crafar declined to say where the money was coming from, other than to say it was a private funder who believed in hardworking people and fairness.

Crafar said there was a lot of water to go under the bridge to get it "nailed down" but that it was "quite possible" he would be lent the money.

Michael Stiassny of receivers KordaMentha said there had been cases of people buying back assets in receivership and repaying the debt.

However it would be fair to say the receivers were treating the news with a "little bit of scepticism", he said.

"On a personal level, it would be a real worry, but unfortunately we have a job to do and our job as the receivers is to look after the people who have lost money and get their money back."

Stiassny said he would hope the MAF and the council would keep a close eye on the properties, if that were the case.

The receivers have placed 16 farms on the market with Bayleys.

Litigator Michael Arthur of Chapman Tripp said he expected the receivers would want to "peaceably" remove the Crafars from the land to save the cost and bother of going through court.

If that didn't work then their best option might be to file a civil application seeking a court injunction to remove them.

This could be dealt with in a matter of a few weeks or a couple of months, Arthur said.

If they still refused to move, then that was when the police could step in, he said.

Meanwhile in comments sent to nzherald Your Views Robert Crafar's partner Layla Robinson, said the family had been treated badly by KordaMentha.

"We shouldn't have to leave our houses. The farms have not been sold and there are ample houses on the farms where we live to house the staff," she said.

KordaMentha had not communicated well with the family over their eviction, she said.