Fonterra shareholders will hold a special general meeting this month to vote on the third step of the co-op’s capital structure reform.
Shareholders will gather at seven venues around the country to hear chairman Henry van der Heyden speak, and vote on the trading among farmers (TAF) concept reports Rural News.
Van der Heyden says the mood among farmers is positive. Last month the co-op held another round of meetings with almost 2000 shareholders in attendance. He says about 40% of the attendees were farmers, who had not attended the first round of consultations held two months ago.
The special meeting will take place on June 30 and will be linked from Whangarei, Hamilton, Rotorua, Palmerston North, Hawera, Ashburton and Invercargill.
Van der Heyden says the Fonterra board is going through the feedback from the latest round of meetings and will send out its recommendation to farmers by June 9.
TAF is the third step of a three-step process to protect and strengthen the cooperative.
The first two steps were approved by farmer shareholders last year and included the provision for farmer shareholders to own additional “dry shares” beyond their current or expected milk production levels.
Under step three, a new Fonterra Shareholders Market would allow farmer shareholders to buy and sell shares among other Fonterra farmers on any business day, when it suits their cash flows.
This would stop redemption risk-money washing in and out of the cooperative as farmer shareholders purchase or redeem Fonterra shares through the cooperative at the end of the season.
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