Winston Peters calls Fonterra vote result 'utter madness'
New Zealand First leader and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has blasted Fonterra farmers shareholders for approving the sale of iconic brands to a French company.
The farms in Shandong province were sold to Singapore-based AustAsia Investment Holdings for US$115.5 million.
Fonterra owns the farms with a joint venture partner and had a 51% stake.
Fonterra hief executive Miles Hurrell says the sale is another important milestone for the co-operative and aligns to its strategy of prioritising New Zealand milk.
"The sale of the JV farms allows us to focus even more on our farmer owners' milk and follows the sale of our two wholly owned China farming hubs earlier this year.
Fonterrs sold its two wholly owned China farming hubs in Shanxi and Hebei provinces to Inner Mongolia Youran Dairy in April for $552 million."
