WELLINGTON |
WELLINGTON Jun 14 (Reuters) – New Zealand’s biggest listed
agribusiness PGG Wrightson said on Tuesday that it had agreed
the conditional sale of its finbance operation to newly
established banking firm Heartland New Zealand Ltd .
It said it expected the purchase price would be around
NZ$100 million ($81.3 million), and part iof the deal would be
the finance business transferring certain loans, worth around
NZ$96.5 million, to a wholly owned PGG Wrightson special purpose
vehicle, which would work to realise or refinance
these facilities over the short to medium term.
PGG Wrightson said the finance arm was not core business and
the sale was backed by its majority shareholder Agria .
Shares in PGG Wrightson closed on Monday at NZ$0.52.
(By Gyles Beckford)