Goldkiwi Asia has represented the southern farmer-co-operative for more than 25 years, helping to build up customer bases in China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and in Singapore where it is based.
The arrangement had worked very well but there was “no substitute for ownership and control” of the business, Taggart said.
That would accelerate Alliance’s understanding of the market and the way it could respond to consumer tastes.
“We see it as a beachhead for us in the region so that we can get more people on the ground.
“There are opportunities there that you can’t fully achieve by having a couple of people in Singapore, for example, and a couple back in Invercargill.”
Goldkiwi Asia would be renamed Alliance Asia with all staff remaining with the business, including founder and director Paul Stephens. There were six people in the business.
Stephens played a significant part in Alliance building up its relationship with its China in-market partner Grand Farm.
That relationship had become a more direct Alliance-Grand Farm operation in recent years but Alliance Asia would remain the major link elsewhere, especially in southeast Asian markets.
The new investment, signalled to farmer shareholders at their season outlook meetings in October last year, was important strategically for Alliance but was nowhere near as big as the group’s investments in the United States and United Kingdom markets.
Alliance was one of the three companies in the NZ Meat Co in the US but was the biggest lamb provider to the business.
Alliance chief executive David Surveyor said the group would be developing new approaches to retail and e-commerce sales in Asia over the coming year as well as product development.
Matching products with markets would require investment in product development, packaging, and services.
