Ron Brierley renews interest in Allied Farmers, buying 2.87%

Ron Brierley renews interest in Allied Farmers, buying 2.87% stake

March 7 (BusinessDesk) – Ron Brierley has acquired 2.87 percent of Allied Farmers, which is recovering from its disastrous takeover of the Hanover and United Finance loan books, making him the fifth largest investor in the Hawera-based company.

Brierley holds about 3 million shares in Allied, according to a Companies Office filing. That’s worth about $133,000 based on Allied’s most recent stock price of 4.4 cents. The shares have climbed 159 percent since late August, when they were around 1.7 cents.

Brierley last showed interest in Allied in 2009, when at the helm of Guinness Peat Group and had mulled making a rival bid for Hanover’s loan book, the National Business Review reported. Instead, GPG sold its holding before Allied took control of Hanover.

He bought back into the company by buying shares from MSL Capital Markets, a brokerage that is 37 percent owned by interests associated with Infratil director Duncan Saville, NBR said.

Allied Farmers last month narrowed it first-half loss to $468,000 from $2.47 million a year earlier, helped by earnings of $315,000 from its livestock unit, the company’s main revenue generator.

Allied Farmers avoided liquidation last year, raising $600,000 in a bond issue, almost half of which was bought by interests associated with chairman Garry Bluett. In December the company reached a conditional deal with Spiers Group, now its largest shareholder, to settle a $2 million liability for shares and a deferred payment worth $1.2 million.

(BusinessDesk)

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