Dairy giant Fonterra has appointed First NZ Capital-Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank-Craigs Investment Partners to advise it on the final stage of its capital restructuring plan, according to reports.
It is understood that the New Zealand-based dairy exporter will create two separate markets, one to allow farmer-shareholders to trade shares among themselves, and another to allow indirect public investment in the co-operative.
Fonterra said it needs to develop “deep and liquid markets”, Reuters reported today (1 September).
The plan is the third stage in a year long restructuring, which Fonterra hopes will strengthen its balance sheet.
The dairy firm said last week that it had set a new 12-month export record, sending 2.1m metric tonnes of product to international markets for the first time in its nine-year history.
The exports were 60,000 metric tonnes higher than those achieved in 2008/09 and were a factor in New Zealand’s six month run of consecutive trade surpluses, the company said.
