Many farmer shareholders seem to be taking a "wait and see"
approach before selling economic rights of shares into the
Fonterra Shareholders Fund, the dairy co-operative says.
While there had been "strong interest" from farmers and staff
in buying units, it seemed many farmers were waiting to see
how the units traded before deciding to sell, chief executive
Theo Spierings said.
About 260 farmer shareholders had offered to sell economic
rights of about 5.5 million Fonterra shares into the fund.
More than 2500 people had applied to buy units under the
Friends of Fonterra offer, which was made up of nearly 900
farmer shareholders, nearly 200 sharemilkers, about 70
retired farmers and more than 1300 staff. A further 260
Australian dairy farmer suppliers had also applied for units
in the fund.
Each person has applied for differing amounts of units and
the number of units each applicant would ultimately receive
would be confirmed after the bookbuild process was completed
and the final price was announced next week.
With interest rates being low at the moment, that might mean
not all farmers were looking for alternative sources of cash,
chief financial officer Jonathan Mason said.
Circumstances might change in the future and the co-operative
was looking to provide further opportunities for farmers to
sell economic rights.
The next opportunity could be after Fonterra's interim
results for 2013 had been announced, which was likely to be