Fonterra wants shareholders' votes

Fonterra wants to give its shareholders one final vote on its Trading Among Farmers proposal.

The plan would see farmers able to sell units in the cooperative to private investors eager to take a slice of Fonterra.

Fonterra's chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden says there's a small group of concerned shareholders and the debate is now spilling into the media, affecting the cooperative's image.

He's called a special shareholder meeting for June 25.

"Bring the cooperative together which we call unifying the cooperative and this is very much the cooperative way, so the only way to do that is to allow farmers to have a final say and to actually vote on trading amongst farmers."

Sir Henry says there's a minority of shareholders who are against the plan.

"We've still got it a majority of farmers telling us to get on with it, but there is, we're saying a smaller group or a minority, that have concerns, so we need to all get back on the same page."

He says those with concerns are using the media to debate the issues and that's not good for Fonterra's image.

Sir Henry wants to be able to implement Trading Among Farmers in November.

Photo: Sir Henry van der Heyden (Getty Images)