Ngāi Tahu offloads its Sanford shares, trading resumes
Friday, 5 June 2026
Ngāi Tahu Investments’ sale of about half of its stake in NZX-listed commercial fisher Sanford has been completed, and the South Island iwi group’s holding has been whittled back to 10.3%.
The fully underwritten block trade - Forsyth Barr guaranteed to buy the block of shares and sell them to the wider market - saw 8,969,621 shares change hands.
The block trade of 9.6% of Sanford’s listed share capital closed at $7.15 per share, creating a haul of about $64.1 million for the South Island iwi group.
The shares were sold to institutional and retail investors at 3.6% discount to their close of $7.42 the day prior to the sale. The discount is considered modest because there was a lot of interest in the shares, which have appreciated 74% in the past year on the back of a standout financial performance.
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The trading halt has been lifted and the shares are once more in play. They have softened by 0.40% today.
Forsyth Barr, who underwrote the sale, could not comment on details of buyers when contacted by The Post.
Sanford’s managing director David Mair said the company’s operations remained unaffected by the transaction “and continue as usual”.
Commenting on the sale yesterday, Ngāi Tahu chief executive Todd Moyle said: “This transaction reflects a planned decision to rebalance our portfolio. We remain committed to Sanford and are supportive of its performance, strategy, and leadership.”
The iwi has not disclosed where it will spend the cash it made in selling down its Sanford stake, although it will likely contribute to further diversification of its portfolio away from traditional, volatile, primary sector businesses and towards more modern asset classes like property, renewable energy and tourism.
Recent examples of its primary sector assets hitting hurdles include when it had to make multimillion-dollar write-downs on its honey lands, hives, and building assets in Oha Honey after a difficult season in 2023-24, and the reclassification of certain West Coast cutting rights as 'held for sale' to trim exposure to forestry around the same period.
Past disagreements
Ngāi Tahu was an enthusiastic holder of Sanford and was building its stake at one point, but also flexed its muscle as the company’s largest shareholder at certain points ‒ including declining appointments and reappointments of directors when they were viewed to not have enough industry expertise.
After a string of director departures from the company in 2023, RNZ’s Te Ao Māori News asked chairman Mike Pohio if it was correct Ngāi Tahu was aiming for a board of industry expertise.
Pohio said it was a “consideration we make on all of our appointments to boards, that the right skill set and experience is exactly what is required. It helps the direction of the company and gets engagement with management and other shareholders.”