NZ's Tegel shelves chicken farm plans local opposition

WELLINGTON, July 26 (Reuters) – New Zealand poultry firm Tegel Group Holdings Ltd. has put its hold on its application to large-scale chicken farming in the country.

Tegel in 2017 applied for a farm capable of raising 9 million chickens a year for meat in the town of Dargaville, but the Northland Regional Council late on Wednesday said it had been suspended at Tegel's request.

The proposed farm has faced stiff opposition from the local community, which has worried over potential noise and pollution, and it is concerned that Māori meeting and burial grounds.

Shares in New Zealand's largest chicken export 0.88 percent to NZ $ 1.13 on Thursday.

"In order to respond to some of the points raised," Tegel's lawyer wrote in a memorandum to the regional council.

The company, which is responsible for more than half the country's poultry output, did not immediately respond to a request for further comment from Reuters.

The move comes as the firm is in the process of being procured by the local unit of Philippines poultry supplier Bounty Fresh Food Inc.

Bounty made at NZ $ 437.8 million ($ 299.54 million) , which Tegel's directors in June unanimously recommended shareholders to accept. Bounty still needs approval from the New Zealand regulator that oversees acquisitions by foreign companies.