A.M.P. buys farm near Culverden

Press, 5 July 1983, Page 3

A.M.P. buys farm near Culverden

The A.M.P. Society has bought a 387 ha farm in North Canterbury in partnership with a Manawatu dairy farmer, Mr R. F. Mitchell.

The property, on the south bank of the Pahau River, south of Culverden, was bought from Mr M. G. Johns for a price reported to be $1 million. It will be known as the Pahau Reserve Partnership. The Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, hearing of the move, said yesterday that he was “interested.” Under land ownership legislation he would have expected to have signed jointly with the Minister of Lands, an authorisation for the investment to proceed, he said, but he had not received an application. Lands Department officials said yesterday that the A.M.P. Society qualified for a special exemption under legislation controlling overseas investment in land. The Land Settlement Promotion and Land Acquisition Act exempts members of the Life Offices Association from its provisions.

The manager of the A.M.P. Society, Mr I.

Stanwell, said yesterday that although the society was incorporated in New South Wales, all its assets were New Zealand-owned, and its shareholders were almost all New Zealand insurance policy holders. At present the property is run as a sheep farm with some cropping. During the next few years the new Waiau plains irrigation scheme will be used to redevelop the property’s potential as a dairy unit.

Dairying will start next year with 300 milking cows, and it is considered that the property has the economic potential to support treble this stocking within a decade. The Pahau farm will be among the first in the region to test the potential of the high-quality soil under irrigation.

The private partner, Mr Mitchell, an experienced dairy farmer, will supervise the property. A.M.P. is the largest private institutional force in farm loan finance, but this is the first time that it has taken direct ownership in rural land.