With the completion of Olam International’s takeover, New Zealand Farming Systems Uruguay now faces an uncertain future.

Olam’s Managing Director of Dairy, Vivek Verma says the company had been looking at investing in Uruguay for some time before approaching NZFSU.

“Uruguay, for dairy, is a very good option, because it has one of the lowest cost structures, and is very attractive for upstream farming investment."

Mr Verma says despite the good offer his company put to shareholders, even he wasn’t expecting the almost 80 per cent take-up.

"We are quite pleasantly surprised with the outcome of the offer, the 78 per cent we reached is a resounding vote in favour of our price.

"We hope that we will be able to turn the company around for the benefit of those shareholders who have that confidence in us."

Olam has agreed to a $60m capital injection to complete on-farm developments started by Farming Systems, which Mr Verma describes as struggling.

Mr Verma says despite the challenges, Farming Systems will be good business for his company, and Olam is focused on long-term gains.

"Once we are through with this business review, we will come up with a new business plan, and new capital raising if it is required.

"I think there are changes and improvements that need to be brought about to fulfil NZFSU’s potential.

"We believe in the potential but know there are a lot of challenges ahead.”