Overseas Investment Office Confirms Receipt of Pengxin Application

The Overseas Investment Office (OIO) today confirmed it has received an application for consent from Milk New Zealand Holdings Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shanghai Pengxin Group Co. Limited, to acquire the 16 in-receivership Crafar farms.

The OIO will perform an initial assessment of the application to determine if sufficient information has been provided.

Annelies McClure, Manager of the OIO, says once the OIO is confident the sufficient information has been provided, it will register and begin assessing the application against the requirements of the Overseas Investment Act 2005.

"The OIO aims to make decisions on high quality, straightforward applications within 50 working days of the date of registration," said Ms McClure. "However, there is no statutory timeframe within which an application for consent must be decided."

The application will be subject to the new investment rules outlined in the Overseas Investment Amendment Regulations 2010 and Ministerial Directive Letter that both took effect on 13 January 2011.

The OIO cannot provide information contained in the application for reasons of commercial sensitivity.