Buy-up broker wants deposits earlier

A real estate company brokering sales of Southland farms to a Maori group on behalf of a mysterious Middle Eastern group is trying to bring forward the dates that deposits are due.

An Auckland-based hapu has obtained sale and purchase agreements for 28 Southland dairy, deer, sheep and beef farms, according to its Invercargill-based spokesman Wynn Murray.

Funding is believed to be coming from Middle East interests but the mysterious process has led Federated Farmers to urge farmers to be cautious and seek legal advice before selling. Some farmers are understood to have cancelled the agreements because of concerns over the hapu group's credibility and delays in contract settlements.

Deposits were to be paid when contracts were finalised in March, but LJ Hooker Invercargill director John Wright said he was revisiting those arrangements and seeking to have them settled early next year.

"I need to be contacting various people to signal that we're doing that and we've done thatin a variety of ways other than phone calls and messages," he said.

"We're in the process of trying to bring it to a head. There are enough questions outside our range of investigation that have been raised. We'll either burst it one way or the other."

Federated Farmers rural security spokesman David Rose said the offers were "almost too good to be true".

It was unclear who was behind the buy-up and where the money was coming from and that "just raises alarm bells", he said.

The Southland Times understands sale agreements of up to 30 per cent more than current valuations have been offered – including a dairy grazing blockand a sheep country station – but that figure was disputed by Mr Wright.

An offer has also been made to at least one South Island meat processing company but negotiations did not proceed.

Mr Murray is understood to be on holiday in Australia and is unable to be contacted.

If you or someone you know has signed a sale and purchase agreement with the Maori group, please contact The Southland Times on 2111 030 or email news@stl.co.nz

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