Having paid grazing fees twice over to stop its livestock being seized, wagyu beef farmer SFJ Holdings moved quickly to freeze sale proceeds from intended sale of a Rakaia farm claiming to be owed some five million dollars for construction of onsite feedlot barns, dismissing as commercially ridiculous claims that SFJ gifted the barns with no expectation of payment.
Japanese owned SFJ Holdings Ltd is managed in New Zealand by Temuka based Shannon Swete.
It has been caught up in the 2024 collapse of Arato Tsujino’s NZ Wagyu operations. NZ Waygu’s liquidator is taking legal action against Mr Tsujino following allegations he diverted company funds to other business interests.
SFJ Holdings is by far the largest unsecured creditor in NZ Waygu’s liquidation.
NZ Waygu arranged grazing for approximately 36,000 SFJ beef cattle on farms across New Zealand. SFJ paid grazing costs to NZ Waygu; payments supposed to have been on-paid to farmers providing grazing.
Evidence was given that payments owed to about 110 graziers are in arrears. To avoid its cattle being seized, SFJ directly compensated graziers; forking out another four million dollars in addition to what had previously been paid to NZ Waygu, taking an assignment of graziers’ claims against NZ Waygu.
Almost as a side-show, SFJ Holdings’ Mr Swete heard on the rural grapevine that a farm on Rakaia Highway owned by a NZ Waygu affiliate was up for sale.
This was a property where SFJ Holdings had stumped up five million dollars to construct feedlot barns, used to finish stock prior to slaughter.
Circumstances of the Rakaia sale were suspicious.
NZ Waygu’s Mr Tsujino was the prime mover, despite no longer being a director of the affiliated company. He wanted the sale conducted off-market; ‘under the radar.’
Mr Swete told the High Court a sale was imminent.
This at a time when reimbursement of the five million dollar feedlot cost was disputed. NZ Waygu claims it was a gift, spent with no expectation of repayment.
Justice Dunningham ordered that proceeds of any Rakaia Highway sale be frozen, pending a full accounting of net liabilities between NZ Waygu and SFJ Holdings.
NZ Wagyu Breeding and Genetics Ltd v. SFJ Holdings Ltd – High Court (30.04.26)
26.148