A consortium of wealthy of Australians and superannuation funds is suing a New Zealand district council, saying they were "dudded" in the sale of a 19,000-hectare dairy farm. 
New Plymouth District Council, in New Zealand's dairy-rich Taranaki region, owns Australia's biggest and oldest dairy operation, Van Diemen's Land Company, in north-western Tasmania.
This month it had signed a $250 million sale agreement with ASX-listed TasFoods - the share register of which includes several wealthy Australians, including Monadelphous chairman John Rubino, and superannuation funds.
But on Friday Van Diemen's Land said it had rejected the bid in favour of another from an unnamed foreign buyer.
This prompted TasFoods, previously known as OnCard International, to engage Allan Myers QC to sue the council, claiming a breach of contract.
"Obviously, we think it is sufficiently worthwhile to engage a silk that charges more money in a day than most people can earn in a year," said TasFoods director and Melbourne stock broker Hugh Robertson.
"We got dudded.
"We entered into a contract and were very transparent with the New Zealanders in the whole process. They had final sign-off on every announcement we made to the ASX."
Fairfax Media has contacted Van Diemen's Land Company [VDL] and New Plymouth District Council for comment.
VDL's rejection of TasFoods' bid has sent the company's share price diving 36.8 per cent to 43Â¢. Until last Thursday, the TasFoods' shares had rallied 358.6 per cent to 68Â¢ this month, after it announced it had entered into a sale agreement three weeks ago.
The agreement involved $250 million cash plus issuing Tasmanian Land Company, VDL's parent, 184 million TasFoods shares.
In a statement, TasFoods said this pushed the purchase price to more than $280 million. The company said it understood VDL had accepted a much lower offer from the "mysterious" buyer.
"The directors consider it an extraordinary decision by the councillors of New Plymouth District Council to have approved a sale of the VDL assets to a foreign investor for less consideration, particularly when that sale is subject to approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board," TasFoods said in a statement.
The dispute is to be heard in the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday after TasFoods obtained an interim injunction on the sale.
VDL's decision to sell to a foreign buyer comes after Treasurer Scott Morrison blocked the sale of Australia biggest cattle station, S. Kidman & Co, to Chinese investors.