Australian company TasFoods had obtained the injunction to stop its New Zealand owners selling VDL to businessman Lu Xianfeng.
TasFoods claimed the New Zealand owners breached a sales contract with it for the dairy company.
But today in the Victorian Supreme Court Justice James Judd removed the injunction and the case will now go to trial.
Mr Lu’s office released a statement after the decision: «We welcome the court’s decision. We are pleased it has been resolved so quickly, and now look forward to preparing for the completion of the sale.»
New Plymouth District Council also released a statement, with Mayor Andrew Judd saying the council was pleased that the Supreme Court of Victoria had ruled in its favour.
«In accepting the rival offer from Moonlake Investments, which is $AU30 million higher than the offer from TasFoods, the council is fulfilling its obligation to make decisions that are in the best interests of the New Plymouth District community,» he said.
VDL has been operating in Tasmania since 1825 and is owned by New Zealand’s New Plymouth District Council (NPDC).
The iconic dairy has never been Australian owned.
Early last month, NPDC entered into a sales agreement with Australian company TasFoods but later cancelled the agreement after it received a «commercially superior» offer from Lu Xianfeng.
Mr Lu is the head of Australia’s biggest blind maker Kresta Holdings and initially tried to keep his identity secret as the foreign buyer behind the VDL deal.
His purchase also requires the approval of the Federal Government and will be assessed on national interest grounds by the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Tasmanian Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has called for the Prime Minister to block the sale of VDL to Mr Lu.
It comes just weeks after the Federal Government knocked back the sale of the Kidman cattle company to Chinese investors.
Source: ABC
