Chinese firm in legal bid to overturn New Zealand govt land sale decision

"The judicial review will seek to obtain clarity for all parties on what constitutes a viable counterfactual and this will, we believe, do a great deal to restore confidence and certainty amongst investors and sellers," Lee said.

Pure 100 had offered NZ$88 million ($60.05 million) for Lochinver.

Associate Finance Minister Paula Bennett and Land Information Minister Louise Upston denied their decision to stop the sale was taken in light of controversies over Chinese and other foreign purchases of New Zealand land, insisting the application failed to meet statutory criteria for sensitive land sales under the Overseas Investment Act.

The Shanghai--based group already owns the 8,000--hectare Crafar farms in the central North Island and a controlling stake in SFL Holdings, which bought 4,000 hectares of South Island farms from Synlait Farms.

Last week, Dakang New Zealand Farm Group, which is 55--percent owned by Shanghai Pengxin, cancelled a sale and purchase agreement to buy seven dairy farms and three support farms from New Zealand--owned Pinny Farms in January.

The decision to end the agreement was "somewhat based" on Shanghai Pengxin's failure to buy Lochinver Station, Dakang CEO Gary Romano said in a statement.