Italy's Barilla pasta family pays $25 million for Leferink dairy farm

Friday 29th November 2013

Italy's Barilla family, founders of the world's largest pasta company, have paid $25 million to buy a South Island dairy farm from Federated Farmers dairy chairman Willy Leferink and his wife Jeanet.

New Zealand's Overseas Investment Office approved the purchase in a decision released today, saying the buyers intend to make additional capital investment in the farm and develop significant indigenous biodiversity.

The price for the 413-hectare property Rakaia property represents about $61,000 a hectare, a 33 percent premium to the $46,000 a hectare median price for Canterbury dairy farms in the latest Real Estate Institute figures and 85 percent above the $33,000 national median dairy price in October.

Barilla pasta, sold in distinctive blue cardboard boxes, was established in 1877 as a bread and pasta shop in Parma, Italy. It is now a global business with exports to more than 100 countries and almost 4 billion euro of annual sales. The company is headed by the fourth generation Barilla siblings, Guido, Luca, Paolo and Emanuela, who are named as the new owners of the New Zealand farm.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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