This pushes their value 12% below what Fonterra paid for its 18.8% stake in the Chinese formula manufacturer.

Beingmate shares closed at 15.82 yuan (€2.37) on Thursday, below the 18 yuan (€2.70) per share, or 3.46 billion yuan (€519m) that Fonterra paid for the 192.4 million shares in Beingmate last March. The shares have halved from the record 30.95 yuan (€4.64) on the Shenzhen exchange in mid June as the tech heavy Chinese stock exchange abruptly pulled back after surging 100% since the start of the year.

Fonterra and Beingmate announced their global partnership in August last year to help meet China’s growing demand for infant formula and increase export volumes of Fonterra’s Annum infant formula brand. At the time, the world’s largest dairy exporter had been hoping for a 20% stake in the company, and flagged it would cost around NZ $615m (€369m).

Last month, Fonterra sold its third dim sum bond, raising 1 billion yuan (€150m), with proceeds helping fund the stake in Beingmate.

The partnership will create a fully integrated global supply chain from the farm gate direct to China’s consumers, using Fonterra’s milk pool and manufacturing sites in New Zealand, Australia and EU. The Chinese government imposed stricter regulations last year on products such as infant formula amid concerns over food safety.

In February, Beingmate reported a 90% drop in operating profit in its preliminary results for the 2014 financial year to 65.7 million yuan (€9.85m), compared to 721 million yuan (€108.15m) a year earlier. Revenue was also down by 17%.

Units in Fonterra’s shareholder fund, which gave access to the co-op’s dividend stream, rose 0.2 cents to $4.89 (€2.93). The units touched a record low of $4.58 (€2.75) in mid June after Fonterra posted a 16% drop in first half profit to $183m (€109.8m) in the six month to 31 January, which it said reflected tough conditions in dairy. They also trimmed guidance for dividends to a range of between 20 cents and 30 cents, from a previous range of 25-35 cents.