The figures suggest Ngai Tahu had already built a stake of around 4.9 per cent in Sanford up to August 31, just below the threshold at which it would need to reveal it was a significant shareholder.
Already, the shareholding makes Ngai Tahu Sanford's largest shareholder, however it is expected to continue to accumulate more. A regulatory disclosure to the NZX also confirmed that Ngai Tahu had asked Craigs to continue to purchase shares in Sanford until it had built a stake of 19.9 per cent.
"Ngāi Tahu Investments Limited has no current intention to make a takeover offer for Sanford based on current circumstances," the statement added.
At the price being offered, a 20 per cent stake would cost Ngai Tahu around $102 million.
Ngai Tahu's move came a day after Sanford issued a downbeat trading update which saw analysts trim profit expectations.
Sanford chief executive Peter Reidie said on Tuesday that while the business would usually expect to see a seasonal uplift in the second half of the year, market conditions remained challenging.
"As a heavily export-focused business, we were hit early by the impact of Covid-19 globally on food service and supply chains. We are now seeing different parts of our business begin to recover from that at different speeds."
On Wednesday afternoon a spokeswoman for Sanford insisted the company had no knowledge of Ngai Tahu's plans when it issued the statement.
Sanford has now welcomed the news of the new cornerstone shareholder.
"This is a very positive development," Sanford chairman Sir Robert McLeod said.
"Ngāi Tahu is one of New Zealand's largest and most successful iwi investors, with a substantial stake in and knowledge of the seafood sector. This offer recognises the potential long-term performance and quality of Sanford's assets."
Sanford welcomed the investment "as a positive signal from a stable, long term, minority shareholder of the quality of Ngāi Tahu," chief executive Peter Reidie said.
"They share our views on sustainability and community – they are focused on the long term and so are we."
Craigs and Ngai Tahu have not yet responded to requests for comment. When trading on the NZX opened, Sanford's shares quickly jumped $1.05 to $5.50, however the shares have fallen since, to be 56c at $5.01 at just after 2pm.
So far Ngai Tahu has not responded to a request for comment.
The iwi already has considerable seafood investments in its large commercial portfolio.
According to its 2020 annual report, seafood accounted for $173m of Ngai Tahu's roughly $1.5 billion in net assets.
Its seafood operations - which include both quota ownership and the operation of about 50 seafood businesses - made a surplus of $17.2m in the year to June 30, 2020, down from $25m the previous year.
While the report blamed the impact of Covid for the hit and warned of ongoing problems in the supply chain, it gave a positive longer-term assessment and referenced the possibility that the iwi may look to continue to invest.
"The long-term outlook for seafood demand – especially the company's core product mix – is positive," the report said.
Prior to the Ngai Tahu move, Sanford's largest shareholder was Amalgamated Dairies, an entity controlled by the Goodfellow family, which at the time of its last annual report owned about 12 per cent of the company. On Wednesday, Amalgamated Dairies disclosed that it had cut its stake in Sanford to just over 6 per cent.
As recently as 2016, entities linked to the Goodfellows owned close to half of Sanford, although a series of sales have cut the holdings sharply.
Peter Goodfellow, the National Party's long-time president and a director of Sanford since 2006, personally owns 277,000 shares in the NZX-listed company.
