Shareholders in PGG-Wrightson have rubber-stamped the $100 million sale of PGG Wrightson Finance to the proposed Heartland bank, and also Ngai Tahu taking a 7.24% stake in Agria, PGG-W's majority 50.1% shareholder.
In separate votes at a special shareholder meeting in Christchurch yesterday, both resolutions were passed with more than 99.4% approval.
Almost a fortnight ago, PGG-W agreed to sell its finance division's up to $430 million rural loan book to fledgling bank Heartland New Zealand for about $100 million, which includes capital raising of a minimum $55 million from private placement and a share purchase plan.
Ngai Tahu has a 7.24% share in Agria Asia Investments, giving it some alignment and exposure to a China-based company. Separately, New Zealand company Livestock Improvement Corp had lent $10 million toward funding the Agria offer.
Included in the Heartland resolution yesterday was PGG-W purchasing $10 million of Heartland shares and noting its guarantee covering some former PGG-W loans. PGG-W is retaining about $95 million of stressed loans, outside the Heartland deal.