I have ceased or am planning to cease

What are my options for sharing down?

Under Flexible Shareholding, you have longer to hold onto or sell your shares once you’ve ceased supplying the Co-op. If you have given a cease notice as required and:

you were a shareholder in the Co-op on 9 December 2021, you can hold your shares until the later of: (i) the Compliance Date in the season ending 31 May 2037; and (ii) the Compliance Date in the 10th season after you cease; or
you joined the Co-op after 9 December 2021, you can hold your shares for up to 5 seasons.

For more information on how to give a cease notice, contact your Area Manager.

Before selling shares, you should talk to your accountant, lawyer, financial advisor or other rural professional to discuss your options. For more information on how to sell your shares, click here (please note you may be asked for your Farm Source login details).

A quick overview of Permitted Transferees

If you’ve ceased in the last year, you can apply to transfer some of your shares to your Permitted Transferee(s). This is a new type of shareholder under Flexible Shareholding.

Permitted Transferees are your relatives, any entity or trust controlled by you or your relatives or, if you are an entity or trust, persons who have a sufficient level of ownership or control interest in you.

You can apply to transfer shares to a Permitted Transferee before the end of the first complete season after your cease application is accepted and becomes effective.

Each initial transfer to a Permitted Transferee must be for at least 20% of the shares held by you when your cease application was accepted. Following the initial transfer, no further shares can be acquired by the Permitted Transferee (they can only be disposed of) – unless you make a further application within the timeframe which is accepted by the Co-op.

Permitted Transferees do not have voting rights given they do not supply milk to Fonterra. Voting rights remain the same as the previous capital structure, based on milk supply backed by shares.

See the graphic below for more details.

Apply to transfer shares to a Permitted Transferee

Click below to fill out the online application form.

Apply now

Where can I find more information?

Take a look at the Rules for Shareholding.

Learn More