German investors will inject capital

The Overseas Investment Office has approved 3314 hectares of dairy and dairy-conversion land for sale to German buyers. Together, the assets amount to just under half the size and value of the 16 Crafar farms in the North Island, which are under offer from a Shanghai conglomerate.

The biggest German investment group to gain OIO approval was DAH Beteiligungs, a holding company owned by the family of Dietmar Hopp, who helped found the business software giant SAP in 1972. A second group of managed funds including Aquila AgrarInvest, D/S Neuseeland Milchfarm Investitions and Alceda Star, won approval to acquire five farms. Two further farms, of 544ha in total in Canterbury, were cleared for sale to unrelated German and Swiss-German investors. The German investors own 50-80% of the farm businesses, which have New Zealand Directors and managers, who are often also investors.

MyFarm is the asset manager for the applicants and will oversee the $12.7million capital development projects planned across the eight farm businesses- five in Southland and three in Canterbury. These projects will create additional employment for up to 20 full time staff during the next 12 months, then 10 new full time permanent positions on the farms following completion. Productivity gains as a result of this development range from 20-69% within the first five years of ownership.

MyFarm Director Cliff King says these multi-million dollar projects are good for New Zealand, “They mean more jobs, higher productivity and ultimately greater opportunities for the kiwis who work and invest in them to own more land in the future.”

For further information please call Sarah McVerry, MyFarm Communications: 027 287 9136 or email sarah@myfarm.co.nz