Babcock and Brown rainmaker sells Yass farm for $15.5m
Former top Babcock & Brown executive Rob Topfer and his partner, art collector Rebecca Sparks, have cashed in on strong demand for prime grazing properties after selling their farm near Yass in the NSW Southern Tablelands for $15.5 million.
He declined to comment on the sale of Boambolo, a 759 hectare high-rainfall property offering three kilometres of frontage to the Murrumbidgee River and a carrying capacity of 500 Angus cattle.
It was bought by an overseas-based buyer with local farming interests. The deal is subject to Foreign Investment Review Board approval.
Col Medway and Tim Corcoran of agency LAWD brokered the sale.
Mr Topfer was global head of corporate and structured finance at Babcock & Brown, which gained the nickname “Mini Macquarie” as it rose to become a global investor in infrastructure and real estate.
He departed in late 2008 to become the managing director of broking house Tricom (later renamed Stonebridge Securities), just a few months before debt-laden Babcock & Brown collapsed in March 2009 in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis.
According to its 2007 Annual Report, for the 12 months to December 2007, executives at Babcock & Brown were awarded bonuses worth $573 million compared with a net profit after tax of $639 million.
Mr Topfer is now a director of disability and mental health service provider Nextt as well as a director of investment and advisory Taemas Group.
Property records indicate that since quitting the corporate scene, Mr Topfer has invested millions in prime agricultural properties.
They include Walteela, a 1029ha cattle breeding and hay operation fronting the Murrumbidgee River and 13 km from Wagga Wagga, which he and Ms Sparks put up for sale in November last year with price expectations of $34 million.
According to Ag Property Central, Mr Topfer and Ms Sparks were selling Walteela – an aggregation of two properties – “to take on another business opportunity”.
LAWD’s Mr Medway is also handling the sale of Walteela, which runs more than 500 head of cattle.
“It is the last property on the Murrumbidgee River west of Wagga, that doesn’t go underwater. Positioned on the high side of the river, Walteela is flood-protected,” Mr Medway said.
Records show Boambolo Pastoral Company paid $12.32 million for a 328ha portion of Walteela in 2020 and acquired another 264ha for $4.5 million in 2021.
Boambolo Pastoral Company also owns Sylkeith Park Estate, a 90ha cattle and horse property in Exeter in the NSW Southern Highland, purchased for $3.1 million in 2017.
In the same year, Boambolo Pastoral Company paid $5.5 million for another Exeter property, 120ha Virginia Park, a country estate with an architect-designed six-bedroom residence.
Also in 2017, Ms Sparks paid $6.2 million for the Potts Point garden apartment of restaurateur Leon Fink.
The apartment is listed by Ms Sparks and Mr Topfer as their home address on corporate filings.
In 2021, Boambolo Pastoral Company sold a 472ha farm in Woodhouselee, about 25 km north-west of Goulburn for $5.5 million.
