Fonterra takes out injunction against former board member Leonie Guiney

Fonterra has slapped a mystery injunction on former board member Leonie Guiney, banning any media from "using, publishing or otherwise disseminating confidential information" provided by her.
Share on twitter
Share on facebook
Share on linkedin
Share on whatsapp
Share on email

The order, made on Friday in the Wellington High Court, names NZX Rural as first respondent, Guiney as second respondent and unnamed defendants as third respondents.
Guiney is a South Canterbury dairy farmer who was elected to the board in 2014, but last year was blocked from standing as a candidate for a second term. She later went public with her disappointment.
«I think I was a necessary antidote to ‘group think’ on that board; I was a constant reminder of who the co-operative owners are and the supply strength that could come from trusting them more. I believe some on the board found this uncomfortable,» she said in a statement.
In an email to shareholders, Fonterra’s board said the urgent injunction was «to prevent the publication of what we believe to be leaked and misrepresented details of Board discussions, supplied to the media by a former Fonterra Director.»
«It is deeply regrettable that we have been forced to take this step in order to protect the Co-op.»
«On any board, confidentiality obligations are intended, in part, to encourage robust debate, dissenting views, and honest and frank discussions.
«It is not uncommon to have disparate views around a board table, in fact, that is a sign of healthy debate. We must be able to have those conversations on your behalf within the boardroom, not in the newspaper,» the email said.
After Guiney’s failure to be chosen for the board last year, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission took Fonterra to task for reducing the number of women on the 11-person board to two.
Later at a public meeting Guiney said Fonterra’s new election system created a risk to democratic control of capital.
«Farmers need to be confident the board is asking the same questions that they would if they had access to all the information that we have access to,» she said.
Shareholders needed to be sure not to surrender their business sense for corporate slogans at governance level, Guiney said.
While Guiney served on the board, the dairy giant made some controversial decisions, including a $756 million investment for an 18.8 per cent stake in Beingmate, which it said would give access to the lucrative Chinese market for its infant formula and other products.
Following a troubled period during which Beingmate’s share price has fallen and key staff have resigned, Fonterra’s stake is worth about only $250m at current market prices.
In her decision, Justice Karen Clark said the injunction remained effective until the determination of the substantive matter, but any party could apply to revisit any aspect on 10 days’ notice.
By: GERARD HUTCHING
Source: Stuff
Link: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/101948456/fonterra-takes-out-injunction-against-former-board-member-leonie-guiney

G
M
T
Detect language
Afrikaans
Albanian
Arabic
Armenian
Azerbaijani
Basque
Belarusian
Bengali
Bosnian
Bulgarian
Catalan
Cebuano
Chichewa
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
Esperanto
Estonian
Filipino
Finnish
French
Galician
Georgian
German
Greek
Gujarati
Haitian Creole
Hausa
Hebrew
Hindi
Hmong
Hungarian
Icelandic
Igbo
Indonesian
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Javanese
Kannada
Kazakh
Khmer
Korean
Lao
Latin
Latvian
Lithuanian
Macedonian
Malagasy
Malay
Malayalam
Maltese
Maori
Marathi
Mongolian
Myanmar (Burmese)
Nepali
Norwegian
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Punjabi
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Sesotho
Sinhala
Slovak
Slovenian
Somali
Spanish
Sundanese
Swahili
Swedish
Tajik
Tamil
Telugu
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian
Urdu
Uzbek
Vietnamese
Welsh
Yiddish
Yoruba
Zulu
Afrikaans
Albanian
Arabic
Armenian
Azerbaijani
Basque
Belarusian
Bengali
Bosnian
Bulgarian
Catalan
Cebuano
Chichewa
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
Esperanto
Estonian
Filipino
Finnish
French
Galician
Georgian
German
Greek
Gujarati
Haitian Creole
Hausa
Hebrew
Hindi
Hmong
Hungarian
Icelandic
Igbo
Indonesian
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Javanese
Kannada
Kazakh
Khmer
Korean
Lao
Latin
Latvian
Lithuanian
Macedonian
Malagasy
Malay
Malayalam
Maltese
Maori
Marathi
Mongolian
Myanmar (Burmese)
Nepali
Norwegian
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Punjabi
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Sesotho
Sinhala
Slovak
Slovenian
Somali
Spanish
Sundanese
Swahili
Swedish
Tajik
Tamil
Telugu
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian
Urdu
Uzbek
Vietnamese
Welsh
Yiddish
Yoruba
Zulu
Text-to-speech function is limited to 200 characters

Mirá También

Así lo expresó Domingo Possetto, secretario de la seccional Rafaela, quien además, afirmó que a los productores «habitualmente los ignoran los gobiernos». Además, reconoció la labor de los empresarios de las firmas locales y aseguró que están «esperanzados» con la negociación entre SanCor y Adecoagro.

Te puede interesar

Notas
Relacionadas