TasFoods continues legal fight for Tasmania’s Van Diemen’s Land Company

A MAJORITY Australian-owned consortium will continue its fight to buy Tasmania’s major agricultural asset, Van Diemen’s Land Company.

Van Diemen's Land Company (VDL), (NOT Van Dieman's as published) historic property Woolnorth, is the biggest dairy farm in Australia, the biggest supplier to the Fonterra milk company and the biggest supplier of milk in Australia, cows in the rotary dairy

A MAJORITY Australian-owned consortium will continue its fight to buy Tasmania’s major agricultural asset, Van Diemen’s Land Company (VDL).

TasFoods Ltd is lodging an appeal against Victorian Supreme Court orders which this week lifted a TasFoods injunction on the sale, thus enabling the sale to a Chinese buyer to proceed.

TasFoods had thought it had bought VDL, Australia’s largest dairy in Tasmania’s North-West, for $250 million from its New Zealand owner New Plymouth District Council.

But the bid was rejected in favour of Chinese billionaire Lu Xianfeng’s “commercially superior” offer of $280 million.

The Victorian Supreme Court however yesterday granted a second TasFoods Ltd stay on the sale in light of its intention to appeal, effectively leaving the block of the sale in place until December 18, by which time the case is expected to have its first mention in the Court of Appeal.

In an announcement to ASX, Tasfoods said: “The company will seek a hearing before the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria before that (December 18) stay expires seeking an extension of the stay.”

The Court also ordered an appeal trial date for February 21 next year, potentially setting back any sale for several more months. TasFoods is preparing for trial.

The ASX will publish VDL updates as the case continues.

The Mercury’s Tasmanian Country newspaper is out every Friday.

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