Claim trips up farm sale!
A claim lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal has thwarted the plan to buy a large North Island sheep and beef farm to prevent it being planted in pine trees.
The property, located just off the Napier Taupo highway, winters around 40,000 stock units on a sheep-to-cattle ratio of 2 to 1.
Forever Farming NZ, a group of farmers and agribusiness people was aiming to buy the property, estimated to be worth $45 million. However, in a statement released by spokesman Mike Barham said the group would be withdrawing their bid following revelations late last week that the Information Memorandum prepared for the sale did not include details of two important issues.
A claim on Mangaohane Station was lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal in late 2019 by a local Maori Trust.
The trust also wants to register an easement to formalise passage through Mangaohane Station to land it owns at the rear of the property which is not currently accessible by road.
“To say I’m incredibly disappointed is an understatement, but we can’t proceed any further with our bid. These two developments, particularly the Waitangi Tribunal claim, add too much risk and uncertainty for a syndicate investment like we had planned and sadly, we’ll have to back away,” says Barham.
He says he is confident Forever Farming NZ would have raised sufficient cash to buy Mangaohane Station.
“I’ve been stunned by the level of support from people from cities and towns right across the country and from within the farming community.
“We’ve got commitments for tens of millions of dollars from lots of people who believed in what we were doing. They will be gutted because they wanted to join with us in making a stand at Mangaohane to stop the slide of so much of our hill country into permanent forest for carbon.”
Barham met with members of the Trust last weekend and says they want Mangaohane Station to remain a livestock farming business.
“I wish them well and hope they achieve the same outcome we wanted for Mangaohane,” he says.
