Chinese bidder withdraws
The Chinese bidder behind the controversial sale of a Southland sheep and beef station owned by Landcorp has withdrawn his application to the Overseas Investment Office (OIO).
Last year, the state-owned farmer agreed to the $8.7 million offer for the 1359-hectare farm, Jericho Station, near Manapouri, in what would have been the first sale by Landcorp to a foreigner.
The prospective buyer is believed to be Wenchen Du, who is a director of Qianlong Farms, a company established in November 2016. Its address is a lifestyle block in Arrowtown.
Controversy has surrounded the sale because a well-known Southland farmer, Ed Pinckney, has also been in contention for the sheep and beef farm, but his offer was refused even though it was only about $200,000 less.
He said yesterday that his backup offer was still on the table and was valid until the end of the month.
Doubt about whether the sale would go ahead was fuelled by the fact Wenchen Du applied to the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) for permission to buy the property, almost five months after his offer was accepted.
There was speculation late last year that his application would depend on the coalition government’s new foreign propertyownership policies, especially those regarding sensitive land.
Since then the Government has announced that any sale of more than 5ha of New Zealand land to a foreign buyer will have to first undergo scrutiny by the OIO.
Minister for Land Information Eugenie Sage said it was necessary to ‘‘raise the bar for overseas investments in sensitive land’’.
Last year NZ First leader Winston Peters also criticised the Jericho deal on the grounds that it represented an opportunity cost for New Zealand’s largest farmer.
If the unconditional offer had been invested immediately it would have generated about $26,000 a month in interest.
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.
NZ First’s spokesman for land information, agriculture and primary industry, Mark Patterson, said the sale should not have been such a convoluted process considering the $200,000 difference.
‘‘It’s a relief that we can keep prime New Zealand farmland in Kiwi hands. Mr Pinckney is an experienced Southland farmer who submitted a very comprehensive plan with a very reasonable offer,’’ he said.
Patterson said the delay of the sale’s timeframe by 12 months had unnecessarily affected Pinckney’s ability to buy stock and make winter feed provisions.
‘‘This Government has made the right decision to tighten the rules around overseas interests purchasing farmland and this is a positive outcome from that decision.’’
"It's a relief that we can keep prime New Zealand farmland in Kiwi hands."
Mark Patterson, NZ First