Premier wagyu beef brand bought by Ashburton farming operation

Saturday, 3 August 2024

An Ashburton farming family has bought the premier wagyu beef brand “Black Origin”, and is using it as its new trading name.

The sale was revealed after Shiwase Kobe Cuisine, a company owned by Canterbury wagyu pioneer Arato Tsujino, went into voluntary administration on July 19, with Auckland accountants Kieran Jones and Steven Khov appointed as administrators.

An administration is carried out to save a company, whereby an administrator investigates a company’s finances and assesses the best course of action for it.

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The administration followed the liquidation of seven other wagyu companies on June 28, ran by Tsujino. One company, New Zealand Wagyu Co, owed $10.4 million to up to 140 farmers and suppliers.

The Black Origin brand was owned by the company Shiwase Kobe Cuisine, of which Japanese born Tsujino was the sole director and also owned a quarter of the shares. The other major shareholder was Auckland investor Guanxiong Liu.

The brand was sold to Tilly Four Farm, an arable, dairy and grain-fed beef finishing operation ran by the Copland family in Ashburton.

The company is directed by Wayne, Craig, Marilyn and Neville Copland. Wayne Copland said he was unable to comment before deadline due to the demands of farm work.

Shiwase Kobe Cuisine started in 2017 and sold wagyu beef wholesale to at least 116 restaurants and retailers across the country.

The voluntary administration arose due to a dispute between Tsujino and Liu, Khov said.

Khov said the company had effectively ceased to trade and the brand, Black Origin, was sold prior to their appointment as administrators.

The New Zealand Wagyu Co was the largest creditor of Shiwase Kobe Cuisine, alongside a number of smaller creditors including farms, suppliers and staff, Khov said.

Creditors would get an opportunity to vote on the future of the company at a meeting still to be arranged, Khov said.