There is news that Landcorp which is a state-owned firm has continued with its bid to buy 16 Crafar farms.

Its bid was turned down by receivers KordaMentha in July. The reason for the refusal to accept the multi-billion dollar deal was that Landcorp was not in the list of preferred bidders.

Amongst the others who were trying for the company was Hong Kong’s Natural Dairy. It lost the bid after its application was rejected by the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) since its directors and May Wang of the UBNZ group failed to clear the character test.

One of the main criterions in clearing OIO test is to get a good character certificate for the key people in the company. And since this area was not fulfilled, the bid made by Natural was turned down by Cabinet ministers Maurice Williamsosn and Kate Wilkinson.

The total worth of the deal is $220 million and Natural Dairy was applying for it along with its New Zealand-based sister company UBNZ Asset Holdings.

Landcorp chief executive Chris Kelly said that there position has not changed even though their bid was refused. He feels that their offer is the best at the moment.