Landcorp farm sold to Chinese buyer in flux
All is not lost for the New Zealand bidder for Southland’s Jericho Station, who initially missed out when Landcorp favoured a Chinese buyer.
The state-owned corporation stands to lose hundreds of thousands in opportunity cost because it did not accept the Kiwi’s unconditional offer, which NZ First claims was for $8.5 million, compared with the winning bid of $8.7m. The Chinese buyer has to yet to apply to the Overseas Investment Office for consent to buy the land, almost two months after his bid of $8.7m for the 1359-hectare sheep and beef property near Manapouri, was accepted. The tender process closed in March. The valuation of the farm was $8.3m.
At the time the Chinese bid was close to being accepted, the New Zealand bidder was attempting to put together the finance to buy the property but Landcorp decided to accept the foreign offer instead of holding off. ‘‘We went through a tender process and spent some time attempting to help a local purchaser get a workable offer together. In the end, when the tenders closed, an overseas buyer presented the best offer,’’ Landcorp chief executive Steven Carden said. Three months after the tender closed, the corporation received a ‘‘backup’’ offer from a local buyer, ‘‘though not at that level [of $8.5m]’’ which was being considered, he said.
NZ First leader Winston Peters said it was ‘‘on public record’’ that the New Zealander’s offer was $8.5m, just $200,000 less than the winning bid. Considering it took on average about eight months for an application to handled by the OIO, Landcorp would lose $208,000 in opportunity cost over that time, which equalled the difference in the two bids. ‘‘If this $200,000 difference is true, then it is obvious National’s handpicked Landcorp board is not working in the best interests of New Zealand taxpayers,’’ he said.
The New Zealand bidder declined to comment. Landcorp announced last year that it would sell nine of its 140 properties including Mt Hamilton Station in Southland.