The topic hardly raised a murmur at last week's Federated Farmers conference in Invercargill and apart from competitor Open Country Dairy, no opposition has been organised.
Lincoln University's professor of farm management and agribusiness, Keith Woodford, is confident Fonterra will get the 75% support needed, saying it has done a better sales job than for the 2008 partial float which was rejected.
Writing in the New Zealand Farmers Weekly, he said that importantly, the board had the support of the Fonterra Shareholders' Council and also this time there was no doubt that farmer-shareholders would retain control of the co-operative.
Fonterra chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden would not say in Invercargill last week how confident he was, but said it was important voters turned out to show the Government shareholders were committed the completing the restructuring.
Should shareholders vote in support, it would require legislative changes to the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act.
Sir Henry said when Fonterra was formed, 85% of shareholders in New Zealand Dairies and Kiwi Co-op took part in the vote to merge the companies.
Last year, just 47% of Fonterra shareholders voted on the first two stages of the capital debate.
Fonterra has promoted the capital restructuring on the need to address redemption risk - money flowing in and out of the co-operative as shareholders each year balance shares needed with milk production.
The need for a stronger balance sheet was also cited, with concerns raised in 2008 that its weakness could have compromised its financial performance.
Under the proposal, shares could be bought and sold between shareholders or via a new entity, the Fonterra Shareholder's Market.
Shareholders would also be able to own shares equivalent to twice their milk production but capped at 5% of all shares on issue, with the total number of dry shares capped at 20% of all shares on issue.
Fonterra will appoint a company to ensure there is sufficient share liquidity and a stable price.
It will be known as a registered volume provider.
The public will be able to buy units off Fonterra shareholders to allow shareholders to temporarily free up capital while not forgoing voting rights.
