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Agribusiness & Food

Innovative legal solutions from farm to table

Our lawyers provide fresh advice and advocacy across the diverse range of issues facing New Zealand’s largest Agribusiness and Food organisations, including food and beverage producers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers. From providing quality corporate advisory services, to managing government relations and guiding clients through litigation, our clients see us as their go-to experts.

Expertise

Our expertise lies in our extensive experience acting as trusted legal advisors to some of New Zealand's largest companies in the Agribusiness sector, and our in-depth knowledge of the issues differing industries face.

Bringing together specialist expertise across the firm, we advise on issues relating to dairy, fisheries, horticulture, viticulture and aquaculture, and food and beverage for the likes of Fonterra, Lion, and Sealord. We work with them to navigate a wide variety of regulatory issues, environment and planning concerns, and commercial considerations. This can include anything from aquaculture and fisheries legal reform, resource consenting and compliance, liquor licensing, and compliance with the Advertising Standards Authority, to the capital restructure of large food & beverage businesses.  

With extensive international investment and trade experience as well as significant domestic expertise, we provide comprehensive, commercially focused advice to clients.

Experience

Our experience includes advising:

  • Woolworths on regulatory issues of strategic importance.
  • Aquaculture New Zealand on aquaculture reforms and commodity levies.
  • Fonterra on its $552 million sale of its Chinese dairy farms.
  • Lion on regulatory issues and consumer and marketing law concerns.
  • New Zealand King Salmon Co.'s on its proposal of national significance (for two private plan changes and nine resource consents) lodged with the Environment Protection Authority and referred to a Board of Inquiry by the Minister of Conservation.
  • Fonterra on its capital restructure and the introduction of its ‘Trading Among Farmers’ scheme.
  • A leading Mānuka honey producer, on various aspects relating to its supply chain and product sales.
  • A leading New Zealand exporter on reporting obligations relating to non-conformances with food safety obligations.
  • Fonterra on environmental and resource management issues, including access to freshwater.
  • An infant formula manufacturer on applicable production, composition and labelling standards in New Zealand and the scope for favourable regulatory reform.
  • A starch manufacturer on labelling rules for 'gluten-free' products and their administrative and judicial interpretation in multiple jurisdictions.
  • On a significant number of transactions in the agriculture, dairy and food and beverage space, including acting for:
  • Pacific Equity Partners on its sale of Griffins (a leading snack food company), and Tegel (a leading chicken producer), and on its acquisition and subsequent sale of Manuka Health (a leading Mānuka honey producer and exporter).
  • Carlyle on its acquisition of Accolade Wines.
  • Lion on its acquisition of Panhead, Emersons and Harringtons breweries, the acquisition of Havana Coffee, the acquisition of Lindauer and other wine brands from Pernod Ricard, and the divestment of its Yoplait business.
  • Griffin’s Foods Limited on the acquisition of 50.1% of the shares in Proper Snack Foods Limited.
  • Fonterra on its $342m joint venture with Abbott Laboratories, to develop a hub of five large scale dairy farms in China.