Fonterra has partnered with Sharesies to offer farmers owners a new way to trade Fonterra Co-operative Group shares among themselves.
Sharesies is a New Zealand-owned wealth app that helps people manage their shares, savings and Kiwisaver all in one place.
The current trading platform technology for Fonterra shares has been in place since 2012 and the existing vendor agreement is due to expire shortly.
This presented an opportunity for Fonterra to review how it trades its shares.
Fonterra’s acting chief financial officer, Simon Till, said the collaboration with Sharesies will deliver a number of benefits to make trading shares easier.
“Sharesies is in the final stages of completing a tailored and exclusive space for our shareholders that’s more intuitive and accessible for managing their investment in the co-operative.
“We believe it will offer Fonterra farmers an improved trading experience and new features that will support liquidity under our flexible shareholding capital structure that was introduced last year,” Till said.
To date, only the Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units traded on the NZX have been available on the Sharesies platform. The units in the fund represent 6.7% of the Fonterra shares on issue.
Under Fonterra’s flexible shareholding capital structure, units in the fund are held by a mix of farmers, retail investors, private wealth and institutions. Fonterra Co-operative Group shares can only be held by current or former supplying farmers, sharemilkers, contract milkers or farm lessors. Former suppliers can also transfer Fonterra shares to their relatives or related parties. In partnering with Sharesies, from mid-2024 the following new features will be on offer:
• Share trading on mobile devices, as well as via a web browser.
• Notifications to alert when the share price moves to a level that farmers are interested in.
• Ability to order shares without having funds in trading accounts. To date, farmers had to have money in their account to place an order.
• View holdings for multiple farms under one login.
• Ability to switch between Fonterra shares and personal investments held through Sharesies such as shares, savings or Kiwisaver under one login.
Further details about the timing for the transition will be provided in the coming weeks.
In Focus Podcast: Full Show | 18 April
