Will Dean Hamilton Get a Silver Fern Farms’ Golden Parachute, If So Why?

NZ First is asking if Silver Fern Farms’ CEO Dean Hamilton, who announced his resignation late last week, is in line for a golden parachute just like his predecessor got.

“Dean Hamilton’s brief stint at Silver Fern Farms can be summarised as: ‘he came, he put a deal together, he sold it to China’,” says the Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader and Northland Member of Parliament.

“The lead up to the sale of this company into Chinese control is one of the worst stories of market misinformation in this country’s recent history.

“There’s just one person earning $1.5m on Silver Fern Farms’ most recent annual report and it’s not the receptionist. That person, on $1.5m, earned 23-times what Beef and Lamb New Zealand predicted a farmer’s income was last season.

“And the meat workers made redundant on his watch will not think Mr Hamilton is much of a ‘good bugger’ that chairman Rob Hewett said he is. Nor will the remaining shareholders of what is now a Chinese-controlled company. Farmers were promised great things when they sold out and they’re still waiting.

“While NZ First will be making a policy announcement on this in the coming weeks, the chair of Silver Fern Farms needs to categorically tell us whether Mr Hamilton will get a ‘golden parachute’ like his processor did, and why.

“The last time a CEO resigned from Silver Fern Farms, Mr Hamilton’s predecessor walked away with a $1.8m golden parachute. Given these people are not exactly on the bones of their behind, that sticks in the throats of workers and shareholders alike,” Mr Peters said.

ENDS

Perhaps Mr Hewett, while he is at it, can disclose what the $8m director slush fund (at the time of sale) was about.

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