Mike Barham of Forever Farming NZ says the claim was not included in the information memorandum. Photo: Supplied
A syndicate working to buy a prominent Taihape station says it's had to withdraw its bid after discovering there are Waitangi Tribunal claims on the farm.
Forever Farming NZ was working to get investors to gather enough money to buy the 4800-hectare sheep and beef property, which is for sale by international tender.
The man behind the syndicate Mike Barham wanted to prevent the farm being planted into trees by overseas investors.
He said there was huge interest from all around the country in investing in the farm but new information which came to light this week has forced him to withdraw.
"A neighbouring Māori trust got in touch as they wanted to support our cause but when my son did some research we realised there is a Waitangi claim on the farm.
"It absolutely blew my socks off, here we have one of the biggest farms in the country up for sale by international tender and the fact it had a claim on the land was not included in the information memorandum."
The local Māori trust, which he did not want to name, has a claim to formalise passage through Mangaohane Station to land it owns at the rear of the property which is not accessible directly by road, Barham said.
"They are at no fault what so all, in fact they support our cause in keeping this farm in New Zealand's hands there's just been a muck up somewhere along the line with information not being disclosed."
I've had the head of the real estate firm at my place apologising for this and ensuring me a mistake like this won't happen again, he said.
A large syndicate buying the farm when it has the claims on the land would create to many problems and that's why he's withdrawn his efforts, he said.
"If it was just myself that would be a different story but if you have 100 investors it all becomes a bit difficult, if the claims were disclosed at the beginning I would have never gone near this."