The
Federal Government Protects GrainCorp from Foreign Takeover
Congratulations to Treasurer Joe Hockey, the
Coalition Government, the National Party and its leader Warren Truss,
Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce and Liberal Party Senator Bill Heffernan in
particular, for rejecting the US giant Archer Daniels Midland proposed takeover
of GrainCorp in the national interest.
The HuntBlog 8 October 2013 newsletter quoted
Barnaby Joyce’s call for all those that supported restraint on overseas
takeover of prime agricultural land and infrastructure to make a lot of “noise”
and noted that Treasurer Joe Hockey’s decision on the ADM GrainCorp takeover proposal would be a litmus
test of the Coalitions resolve to tighten up Australia’s national interest
review of foreign investment in Australia.
As many of you who have been involved in the
struggle to keep GrainCorp and it’s important storage and transport
infrastructure in Australian hands know-there has certainly been a lot of grass
roots “noise” directed to the government on the GrainCorp takeover proposal and
foreign investment issues in general since the Coalition came into power in
September this year.
Warren Truss and Barnaby Joyce have been on the
barricades unequivocally expressing their concern about the proposed foreign
takeover of GrainCorp and Senator Bill Heffernan convened a Senate hearing into
the issue to keep the pressure on.
Independents such as Bob Katter have also added
their weight, and a plethora of press releases, to support the campaign to
prevent the sale of vital public and private infrastructure and assets to
foreign controlled entities.
More particularly, as many of you are aware, a
host of lobbyists and agri-political leaders and farmer organizations have been
in the ear of parliamentarians, the media, and all who would listen about their
concerns, in order to counteract the slick and professional PR campaign by
Archer Daniels Midland and GrainCorp.
Just this morning, in today’s Australian Financial
Review, GrainCorp chairman, John Taylor is quoted as rebuking growers opposing
GrainCorp’s sale to Archer Daniels Midland, predicting general calamity,
including a crash in the GrainCorp share price and asset closures if the
takeover did not go ahead.
Treasurer Joe Hockey however was neither moved
nor bullied by the ADM/Archer Daniels Midland lobby and media barrage and stuck
to his guns and met his obligation to make a considered decision in the
national interest, keeping in Australian hands the crucial grain growing
infrastructure that is so essential to the long-term future of Australia’s
grain industry.
Time will tell if GrainCorp chairman John
Taylor’s dire prediction concerns about GrainCorp’s future and share price
prove to be correct in the long-term.
By lunchtime today some commentators were
pointing to the $2.94 fall in GrainCorp’s share price since Treasurer Joe
Hockey made his announcement rejecting the takeover bid this morning with the
share price trading as low as $8.26 down from the $11.20 that GrainCorp shares
traded at yesterday to support chairman John Taylor’s dire predictions.
The reality is however that the Friday 29
November 2013 GrainCorp share price of
$8.26 was only $.44 below the $8.70 share price that GrainCorp traded at prior
to the ADM takeover bid was announced.
As Barnaby Joyce told the Fairfax media this
morning, the real test of the wisdom of Treasurer Joe Hockey’s decision will
play out in the context of the oncoming Asian food bowl boom for Australian
grain exports over the next 50 years.
By lunchtime today a Sydney Morning Herald
survey showed that 68% of readers supported the Treasurer’s decision to reject
the ADM takeover bid of GrainCorp and that only 32% of readers opposed his
decision.
No comments:
Post a Comment