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The private lender sees significant potential in bank-reliant New Zealand.
Private lender Merricks Capital is financing the $200 million development of a 43-storey hotel-dominated project under way on Auckland’s Albert St, as it makes a wider attack on taking market
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Van Leeuwen was put into receivership by its financer last week.
NZX-listed New Zealand Rural Land Co has entered into a conditional agreement to buy 14 South Island farms from the beleaguered Van Leeuwen Dairy Group for $114 million.
Van Leeuwen was put into receivership early last week by Australian fund manager Merricks Capital, which led a $140m refinancing of the group’s debt in 2019.
The dairy company is 75.06% owned by Aad and Wilma van Leeuwen, with the remaining 24.94% owned by Merricks.
The 14 dairy farming assets in South Canterbury and North Otago total approximately 6350 hectares.
Alongside the purchase agreements, New Zealand Rural Land Co (NZL) also entered
Australian fund calls in its security over Van Leeuwen capital structure issues.
Australian fund manager Merricks Capital has called in receivers to the Van Leeuwen dairy farming group in South Canterbury.
Receiver Brendon Gibson of Calibre Partners declined to comment on the size of the debt but said it was “a substantial amount of money”.
The business would continue trading with the help of staff and creditors “and then we’ll assess what options are available to try and restructure it all”.
“The business itself has strong ebitda,” he said. “It’s obviously got some capital structure issues.
“We’ll work with management to continue the operations as normal and try and deliver a turnaround
The deal marks the launch of a new fund into the New Zealand market.
Melbourne-based funds manager and property financier Merricks Capital has completed a $140 million refinance of the Van Leeuwen Group dairy operation in the South Island.
Merricks is backed by the wealthy Liberman family, holders of the second-largest distributed family fortune in Australia.
The dairy business is owned by Aad and Wilma van Leeuwen and comprises more than 7500 hectares of land across 11 dairy farms.
A South Canterbury farm owned by the group was one of the first to be identified as having the cattle disease
Mycoplasma bovis. Efforts are still under way to attempt to wipe out the