NZ Farming Systems Uruguay said yesterday it had received notice of a proposed full takeover offer from Olam International, which already holds nearly 86% of the company.
Olam intended to buy the 14% of shares it did not own at a takeover price of 75c a share.
However, Olam needed only another 4% of Farming Systems shares to trigger a compulsory takeover of the company that was spun out of PGG-Wrightson, Craigs Investment Partners broker Chris Timms said.
Singapore-based Olam's offer is a 7.1% premium on the current trading price of 70c.
Chinese company Haier has launched a full takeover for New Zealand whiteware manufacturer Fisher and Paykel Appliances at $1.20 a share. The shares are trading above the takeover price, in anticipation of a higher offer being made.
The New Zealand Venture Investment Fund wants 15 to 20 high-growth companies in its portfolio listing on the NZX over the next decade.
At present, the fund has 125 portfolio companies and expects that to grow to about 180 within the next five years. It aimed to see 10% of those companies listing on the NZX.
Fund chief executive Franceska Banga said establishing a path for technology companies, which could take them from receiving initial investment at the start-up stage through to expansion and on to listing on the NZX, would assist the development of the "growth company eco-system".
Several high-growth companies, such as Xero, had taken the option of an early presence on the NZX.
But for many technology companies, public listing followed a period of development and growth funded from rounds of angel and venture capital investment.
"New Zealand's capital markets will be stronger if there is a viable path from that type of private investment through to public markets."
A major challenge for growth companies was the lack of follow-on investment capital when they needed $5 million to $10 million, Ms Banga said.
For many companies, strategic acquisitions by large international competitors were the preferred way to fund their next stage of development and that would remain the case. But New Zealand needed to develop the domestic IPO (initial public offering) as a practical and viable alternative, she said.
So far, only two venture fund portfolio companies had a presence on the NZX - Xero, and HTS-100, through its acquisition by Dunedin-based Scott Technology.
A third, Moa Brewing, had indicated this week it wanted to raise around $15 million for a NZX listing and to expand its Marlborough brewery and offshore markets.
Mr Timms said there was a need for a continual renewal of the NZX as companies reached maturity.
One of the dangers was that cash-rich international companies would look at New Zealand's innovative technology companies and find it was cheaper to buy the company and its intellectual property than develop their own technology.
"We need an efficient capital market to bring companies to the sharemarket so they can grow and develop over time. There is only so much you can do through private funding."
More importantly, the constant growth of KiwiSaver funds was having a bigger impact on the sharemarket as a whole.
"We have seen a fair chunk of money going into the sharemarket from those funds. As the market gets smaller, those KiwiSaver funds will have more impact on things like share price."
Net KiwiSaver inflows for the three months ended March were $593 million. They dropped to $500 million in the three months ended June.
If 10% of that money was going into the New Zealand sharemarket, that was a "substantial" investment, Mr Timms said.
Many of the funds had a mandate to invest in New Zealand shares and having more companies listed on the NZX would be a boost both to the KiwiSaver funds and other investors.
At a glance
• Falling number of listed companies cause for concern
• $4.5 million of KiwiSaver funds invested each week in New Zealand sharemarket
• 5% of Cullen Fund's
• $18.3 billion invested in New Zealand shares
• Smaller number of listed companies gives funds more influence in price
