AWN One of Australia’s largest agri-services businesses, AWN, has announced the acquisition of a 10.1% shareholding in The New Zealand Merino Company (NZMC). The purchase, which will be settled across three tranches between 16 December 2022 and 14 April 2023, will see AWN become the largest shareholder in the company, which trades on the New Zealand Unlisted Securities Exchange.
A global leader in the marketing and sales of ethical wool, NZMC invests in various innovations across the primary sector. The company’s ZQ program is hailed as the world’s leading ethical wool program, setting the highest standards for fibre quality, and animal welfare, as well as environmental and social responsibility. Following the success of the ZQ program, NZMC launched ZQRX, a regenerative agriculture index that helps wool producers continuously improve human, animal and environmental outcomes, targeting the effects of global issues, such as climate change and loss of biodiversity, through regenerative practices.
Kate Morrison, NZMC Chair, welcomed AWN to the NZMC share register.
“AWN has been an important strategic partner of NZMC for a number of years and a key component in our strategy for a greater presence in the Australian market. We see this move by AWN as a strong endorsement of the NZMC business and our ZQRX initiative in particular”.
AWN Managing Director, John Colley, said that the acquisition is of strategic significance to AWN.
“We see the value that NZMC and its ZQ and ZQRX programs will deliver not only to our business, but also to businesses throughout the supply chain, from the farm right through to the retailer, and to the consumer.
“We are cognisant that ethical, sustainable and now regenerative agriculture is a rapidly growing market, driven not only by consumer demand but also by the need to produce food and fibre more efficiently, not just in terms of efficacy for today, but also efficacy for the future. We are investing agriculture for today and we are investing in the future of food and fibre security.”
“We are cognisant that ethical, sustainable and now regenerative agriculture is a rapidly growing market, driven not only by consumer demand but also by the need to produce food and fibre more efficiently, not just in terms of efficacy for today, but also efficacy for the future. We are investing agriculture for today and we are investing in the future of food and fibre security.”
AWN, one of Australia’s fastest growing rural services businesses, has expanded its reach across rural Australia in recent years through a mixture of strategic acquisitions, greenfield operations and organic growth.
Founded as a wool specialist business in 1999, AWN rapidly grew to become the largest independent wool broker in Australia. In recent years, AWN has widened its focus to provide diversified agri-services. Now one of the fastest-growing agri-services providers in Australia, AWN offers wool, livestock and property services at an increasing number of locations across rural Australia.
