The Hong Kong-based company Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings has passed the first hurdle in its application to get clearance to buy the 16 Crafar farms that are in receivership.
Natural Dairy has applied to the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) for approval to take total ownership of an associated company, UBNZ, which has a conditional agreement with the receivers to buy the North Island farms.
The Hong Kong company currently owns 20% of UBNZ Assets Holdings.
The OIO has confirmed that, following a preliminary assessment, the application has been passed for a detailed assessment. It says it aims to process the application within 50 days, with a recommendation then going to the Government for a final decision.
The existing agreement to buy the Crafar farms depends on getting that approval, but the receivers are also continuing negotiations with some other bidders who have made competing offers.
Earlier this week they rejected one of those competing bids, from Landcorp.
The OIO rejected an earlier Natural Dairy application on the grounds that it did not provide suficient information about the company's plans for investing in the New Zealand dairy industry.
