What Would Synlait Be Worth to Fonterra or a2 Milk?
Speculation of a possible joint move by Fonterra and a2 Milk to buy Synlait raises a much bigger strategic question, says agribusiness expert Dr Nic Lees.
The first and most obvious offenders are the activists at Greenpeace.
We can largely discount this crowd's opinion of dairy though; it doesn't matter what the dairy industry does, Greenpeace will always say it is "bad".
They threw it all at Fonterra last week: the price of butter, climate change, water quality, etc, etc. Not a single good thing to say about a $4.2 billion capital injection into the economy.
Joining them as an unlikely bedfellow was politician Winston Peters, who is determined to play this sale for his own political gain.
Milking It reckons, if Peters finds himself on the same page as the Greenpeace activists, he's on the wrong page!
