I have to say, when I look at the new Fonterra capital structure proposal, I feel completely underwhelmed. There is nothing here that we have not seen or heard before. It looks like a rehash of previous ideas, rather than looking at the issues in a whole new light; which all the build-up hype led me to believe was happening. I have to concur with other skeptics that this is just a small step towards the ultimate goal of floating the company as there is nothing new in this proposal that would make me think otherwise.
The key omission in this proposal is how these changes in the capital structure will support the co-operative nature of the business. Retaining the co-operative nature of Fonterra has been a clear message from shareholders since the 2007 capital restructuring option and one I would have thought this option would capitalise on. I suspect that genuinely using the co-operative principles as the cornerstone of Capital Structure discussions has not happened. Rather the ideas of farmer ownership and control have monopolized debate, producing a clumsy and difficult option.
I wonder what the original proposal put forward by the Board to the SHC looked like and how different is the proposal in front of us compared with that one???
No comments:
Post a Comment