In February last year, the Mid Canterbury-based milk processor announced the conditional purchase of 28ha at Pokeno, in north Waikato, to build a $280million nutritional powder manufacturing site.
In November 2018, the High Court removed land covenants that would have hindered Synlait's development of the land, but last month the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court decision to remove the historic covenants.
Late last month, Synlait received a cease and desist letter from the beneficiary of the covenant, while the beneficiary considered its options.
Synlait's chief executive, Leon Clement, said yesterday the latest move back to court was just the next step in the process, as the company continued to progress all its options.
"We are also still in continued conversations with all parties and we remain confident of a positive outcome," he said in a market update yesterday.
Synlait had reiterated that its plans for the Pokeno site had not changed, he said.
Mr Clement said Synlait would continue to work towards the existing project timetable, including the build and commissioning, with the latter scheduled for the upcoming 2019-20 dairy season.
