Merino growers have voted to buy PGG Wrightson's half-share in New Zealand Merino for $7.625 million.
When contacted after a meeting in Christchurch yesterday, Merino Grower Investments Ltd chairman Bob Brown described it as a "historic day for the merino industry".
It gave control of the company to grower shareholders and set a new benchmark for producer organisations.
MGIL is owned by 630 merino growers. Shareholders had to vote on two resolutions, which related to the purchase and financing and also a change in the constitution to allow shareholding by mid-micron growers and New Zealand Merino employees.
It was understood areas of concern had been raised by some growers over the proposed shareholding of employees and Mr Brown said there had been "a lot of questioning".
He would not say how many voted against the resolutions but did say that to change the constitution, there had to be a 75% vote and "we did better than that".
He saw bringing employees into the business as being "very positive", saying the management of the company was a "world-class team".
While possession would happen on or before June 30, the new board structure was likely to be set around the time of MGIL's annual meeting. No date had been set but it would "almost certainly" be early October, he said.