Maori, Chinese buyers in talks to settle NZ farms deal

A New Zealand indigenous Maori trust said Monday that it might end its opposition to a Chinese firm's bid to buy 16 North Island dairy farms if deals can be reached on three of the farms that Maori groups say were wrongly appropriated in generations past.

The Tiroa Te Hape Trust has been part of the Crafar Farms Independent Purchasers Group (CFIPG), led by former merchant banker Michael Fay, which fought a successful legal battle to overturn the government's initial approval for Shanghai Pengxin to buy the farms.

After being ordered to reconsider its decision, the government again approved the sale in April, but the CFIPG has an appeal to be heard on July 2, when it will argue that Shanghai Pengxin lacks the necessary business expertise and experience to run New Zealand dairy farms.

Trust executive chairman Hardie Peni told Xinhua Monday that the trust was in talks with Shanghai Pengxin over buying two farms- - Benneydale 1 and Benneydale 2 -- that formerly belonged to his Ngati Rereahu iwi (tribal group).

"Our focus has always been to buy back Benneydale 1 and Benneydale 2, but we have another iwi, Tuwharetoa, sitting at the table with us and they want to buy back one of the farms," Peni said in a phone interview.

Peni said he could give few details on the talks until Shanghai Pengxin agreed to make them public, but Tiroa Te Hape Trust had offered to buy the two Benneydale farms at market price.

"We think it's a fair offer and it's in line with current valuation," said Peni.

If Shanghai Pengxin could reach a deal, the trust would reconsider its position with regard to the CFIPG action when it met again at the end of this month, he said.

"We would have to seriously consider all of those bits and pieces. I would take advice from our board, but we would definitely consider withdrawing."

However, the trust, which has a 10,000-hectare block with 120, 000 livestock, stood by its court appeal that Shanghai Pengxin failed to meet the overseas investment criteria for buying the farms.

"We're still willing to enter into discussion on investments and how we can help other countries with their wants and needs."

Maori Affairs Minister Dr Pita Sharples, who led a Maori business delegation to China this month, said Sunday that he was pleased to hear of the talks between Shanghai Pengxin and the trust, but the government was not involved.

"Having just come back from China, I can say that there is mutual interest in business dealings between Maori and China. Both sides see opportunities arising out of relationships of respect and understanding based on the shared cultural values of Maori and Chinese people," Sharples said in a statement.

However, Peni repeated his criticism of Sharples' Maori Party, which is part of the governing coalition, that it had done " absolutely nothing in public" to support the trust's claims.

Prime Minister John Key told Television New Zealand Monday that he was confident the government had gone through the correct processes in approving the sale.

"Whether the courts overturn something, that's a matter for them. They've sometimes made decisions that surprise us," said Key.

In February, the High Court in Wellington upheld the CFIPG argument that New Zealand's Overseas Investment Office (OIO) had failed to properly consider the benefits a foreign buyer would bring to the farms, and the court set aside the OIO's recommendation to the government.

Shanghai Pengxin first submitted through subsidiary, Milk New Zealand Holdings Limited (Milk New Zealand), its reported bid of 210 million NZ dollars (166.33 million U.S. dollars) to the OIO on April 13 last year, before the rival CFIPG offer of 171.5 million NZ dollars was put to the receivers.

In February's judgment spanning the New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement and a host of other issues, Justice Miller, at the High Court in Wellington, set aside the government's initial consent and told the OIO and the government to reconsider the bid.