Natural Dairy New Zealand should know within 50 working days if it will be allowed to buy the 16 Crafar family farms in the central North Island.

The Overseas Investment Office has completed its preliminary assessment of Hong Kong-based company’s application – it has a sale agreement with Crafar receivers KordaMentha that is conditional on OIO approval.

OIO chief executive Annelies McClure says the Natural Dairy application is being treated like any other.

“It really is the same as every other application, we’ve got a strict statutory framework that each application has to be applied against.”

Ms McClure says the OIO’s 50-day deadline to report to the Government is only a guide, and its assessment may take longer.