WoolCo has thrown in the towel. The failed capital raising venture will be returning cheques to farmers who bought into their proposal to buy Wool Services International to prevent a wool scouring monopoly in New Zealand.

WoolCo was seeking $40 million but fell well short of that total.

WoolCo chairman Cliff Heath says that while farmers gave strong verbal support for the proposal, that didn’t translate into them putting their hands in their pockets. 

Mr Heath says farmers have missed out on an opportunity to prevent a monopoly now that the high Court has cleared the way for Cavalier Wool Holdings to purchase the assets of New Zealand Wool Services Limited. 

Meanwhile, British scourer, Curtis Wool Direct, from Bingley in Yorkshire, has released a statement in support of Cavalier Wool Holdings intended purchase of the wool scouring assets of New Zealand Wool Services Limited.

Curtis Wool Direct is the largest buyer and processor of British wool in the Northern Hemisphere.

Joint Managing Director,  Simon Curtis, who studied wool at Lincoln Universsity, says the recent decision by the High Court to allow Cavalier Wool to acquire NZWS equity will ‘enable Cavalier to make vital decisions that will ensure early stage processing will continue in New Zealand for many years to come’.