Fonterra farmer share application period opens December 7

Fonterra’s farmer shareholders will get their first opportunity from next week to invest additional capital in their Co-operative following capital structure changes approved at the annual meeting in mid November.
At the annual meeting, the shareholder vote was overwhelmingly in favour of raising the maximum level of share ownership to 120 per cent of farmers’ current or expected production for the season. Farmers are already required to own Fonterra shares in proportion to their milk production (with one share required for each kilogram of milksolids produced per season) and the change means all farmers can now hold up to 20 per cent additional “dry” shares not covered by their production. All shares will be eligible for dividend payments based on Fonterra’s profitability, providing more of a financial incentive for farmers to own dry shares.