Kupe plans prawn stake

Press, 20 March 1987, Page 11

Kupe plans prawn stake

PA Auckland Kupe Investments, Ltd, is to buy an 11 per cent interest in the Kiwi China Prawn Co, Ltd, a joint venture between New Zealand entrepreneurial interests and the Chinese National Fisheries Corp. The purchase price has not been disclosed. Kiwi China Prawn Co, Ltd, understood to be on track for a public float and Stock Exchange listing later in the year, now has a paid capital of about $5.3 million. The combined interests of Mr Warren Freer, Mr J. P. Barbarich, Venturecorp Investments, Ltd, and Crown Ventures, Ltd, account for 50 per cent of the issued capital. China National Fisheries Corp has a 39 per cent stake and Kupe 11 per

cent. In the event of a public float, new shares would be issued. Mr Freer said that in the past two months the company’s hatchery at South Kaipara Head had completed the first and vital stage of development.

Following the importation of several shipments of prawns from China, brood prawn selection had been carried out and the first hatching trials completed. Mr Freer said Northern Hemisphere prawns were being acclimatised to conditions in this hemisphere, and plans were now well advanced for a trial commercial production. This crop is expected to be ready for sale on the domestic market towards the end of the year.