Fonterra denies NZ First leader Winston Peters’ claim that Lactalis sale is ‘not going well’
Monday, 16 March 2026
Fonterra has denied there is any substance to an attack by NZ First leader Winston Peters prompted by the resignation of chief executive Miles Hurrell on Monday.
In a social media post, Peters criticised Hurrell for “selling off almost every consumer brand since he started”, leaving Fonterra a “commodity price taker, not a market maker”, and that Hurrell would leave “once his bonuses are paid”.
But as well as attacking Hurrell, who refused media interviews on Monday, Peters claimed: “As for the sale of Lactalis, we hear the deal is not going well. Last week Fonterra announced deep jobs cuts to staff. Insiders are saying they are ripping cost out of the business to make up for a lesser sale price.”
Fonterra is in the process of completing the sale of its Mainland consumer brands business to multi-national dairy company Lactalis for $4.22 billion as part of a turnaround plan launched in 2019 which Hurrell was hired to lead.
Some 98.85% of the total shareholder votes by farmer-shareholders backed the sale of the brands business to Lactalis.
Read more:
Fonterra shareholders say ‘yes please’ to proceeds of Mainland brands sale
Farmers approve $4.2 billion Mainland sale by Fonterra for once-in-a-generation windfall
Fonterra responded to Peters’ claim in a statement which read: “Fonterra announced earlier in March that the sale of Mainland Group to Lactalis for $4.22b is now unconditional, with all conditions satisfied, and the sale is on track for completion at the end of this month.”
A lesser sale price would be material information that would need to be released to shareholders through an announcement on the NZX sharemarket, where Fonterra shares are traded, a Fonterra spokesperson said.
Fonterra said it had not announced deep job cuts last week, though it has made headlines with job cuts in recent years as it sought to bring down its costs as part of its turnaround plan, begun in 2019 following large financial losses.
Fonterra also dismissed Peters’ query on social media about how much Hurrell would get for leaving, recalling the “ridiculous $4.67m” previous chief executive Theo Spierings was paid out on his departure.
“Miles will not receive any exit payments in addition to his annual remuneration package,” Fonterra said.
However, it acknowledged that Hurrell’s longer-term incentive payments would continue “for a period of time”.
In his post on social media, Peters said the sale to Lactalis raised serious questions about what New Zealand needed to do to protect dairy manufacturing “as a result of Fonterra’s dereliction of duty”.
NZ First went into the last election with a policy of boosting domestic manufacturing.
Peters has been highly critical of the Mainland sale, feeling it was a betrayal of the country, and of generations of farmers who built its consumer brands like Anchor.
In October, Peters published an “open letter” to farmers preparing to vote on the Lactalis deal telling them not to think of the “short-term sugar hit from selling, but to the long-term security for their children, grandchildren, and country” or keeping Mainland in Kiwi ownership.
“The sale terms provide everything you need to know: after three years Lactalis can terminate milk supply from Fonterra for Anchor and Mainland,” he warned.
“Farmers, under this deal you will not control the very thing that has underpinned your success for generations: quality,” Peters said in the open letter.
“Why would we believe Lactalis would want to secure New Zealand milk for more than three years? If they do, why has Lactalis not offered a longer supply agreement? If they meant it, it would be in the deal. They want 10 years of your raw milk for their own brands, but only want your raw milk for three years for Anchor and Mainland,” the letter said.
He criticised Fonterra’s executive and board, saying: “You and your forebears, starting in 1886, built Anchor with 130 years of product development, consumer trust, just as all the other brands have been built. For $4 billion, they are giving it away.”