The 20-minute meeting that sealed Fonterra’s $4.2b sale to Lactalis

Fonterra chair Peter McBride addresses an online special meeting flanked by chief executive Miles Hurrell and other members of the board. (Image: Screenshot)

Riley Kennedy

Thu, 30 Oct 2025

Fonterra Co-operative Group’s shareholders have overwhelmingly backed the $4.2 billion deal to sell its consumer business to French giant Lactalis.An online special meeting was held on Thursday at 10.30am, however, with no questions from supplying shareholders, it took just 20 minutes from start to finish.In the end, 88.47% supported the sale, with the results announced just before 11.30am.It was widely expected farmers would back the deal, which will see a significant capital return made to them. The deal with Lactalis was announced in A...

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