Kaiapoi freezing

Press, 12 July 1985, Page 10

Kaiapoi freezing

works Sir — Farmers wanted the •§ involvement and protection which • their own works afforded and the significant benefits of the tax concessions which accrue from cooperative status. These reasons for ownership are as valid now as they were then; notwithstanding the Pappas Carter rationalisation recommendations recently presented to the Meat Industry Council. C. S. Stevens has expressed a desire to restructure the company as a cooperative, but it is certain that farmers will not be invited to participate on the generous terms they accepted in 1979. In that year they purchased the works for $4 million and have now sold for $lO million in the knowledge that facilities recently constructed of similar capacity have cost up to four times this price. It is not surprising that some farmer shareholders do not wish to accept the' Stevens offer, and the Alliance Freezing Company’s holding of 200,000 shares further complicates the issue. Shareholders now look to the independent directors and Stevens for a clear statement on their position if they do not sell. — Yours etc., J. W. HARTNELL D. N. THOMAS. July 2, 1985

[Mr R. H. Trounce, managing director of C. S. Stevens and Company, Ltd, replies: “The independent directors of N.C.F. Kaiapoi, Ltd, have issued a clear statement recommending that all shareholders accept the Stevens offer. Any shareholder who elects not to sell could well be part of a small minority group.”]