Fonterra seeks strong farmer mandate for sale
Fonterra chair Peter McBride expects a strong mandate from farmers shareholders for the proposed sale of its consumer and related businesses to Lactalis for $3.8 billion.
Nominations have opened and all candidates will be announced on September 25.
Shareholders voted last year to reduce the number of farmer-elected directors to seven, down from nine.
Last year three farmer-elected directors retired by rotation and only two vacancies were filled.
This year three farmer-elected directors – John Monaghan, Leonie Guiney and David McLeod -- retire by rotation. But a casual vacancy arose when Michael Spaans resigned for health reasons. Ian Farrelly was recalled to fill that vacancy until the election.
No sitting director is allowed to publicly announce their candidacy until the independent selection process is complete.
Independent nominations will come first; nominees’ names are due with the returning officer, Warwick Lampp, of electionz.com, by August 7.
He will name those candidates in early September.
Self-nominations close on September 21 (farmers can nominate themselves for a directorship without having to go through the independent nomination process).
The returning officer will confirm all farmer-directors candidates on September 25.
Fonterra has confirmed the three members of its independent selection panel for the 2017 director elections: Dame Alison Paterson (chair); John Spencer (board appointee); and Tony Carter (shareholders council appointee).
