Queensland’s Emerick family lists Mulgowie portfolio for $200m
A 70-year-old family-run farming business that is Australia’s biggest grower of sweet corn and beans – as well as other supermarket vegetables – has been put on the market for the first time with an asking price of more than $200 million.
The Emerick family’s Mulgowie Farming Company includes a 5100-hectare portfolio of irrigated farming properties spread across three states and a vertically integrated operating business that grows and packages about 90,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually for all the major supermarkets.
It comes to market as another major integrated horticultural business – WA’s largest citrus producer, Moora Citrus, about 180 kilometres north of Perth – is listed for sale, with local sources indicating it could be worth more than $30 million.
Appetite for these assets will likely be strong given the Department of Agriculture’s latest forecast that the value of horticultural production could reach a record $17.8 billion next financial year.
The Mulgowie Farming Company portfolio is being marketed by Danny Thomas and Elizabeth Doyle of LAWD. Rawdon Briggs and Duncan McCulloch from Colliers are selling Moora Citrus on behalf of a group of private investors.
The Mulgowie Farming Company’s roots date back to 1949 when John Emerick and his wife Dell started farming dairy cattle in Mulgowie in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley.
In 1965, the Emericks switched to growing cabbages, cauliflowers and tomatoes, and then added sweet corn in 1981 and green beans in 1987.
Two years later, the Mulgowie Farming Company brand was established when the Emericks began working with contract growers. After that, the company expanded into Bowen in northern Queensland, so they could supply sweet corn and beans 12 months of the year.
In 2004, the company began growing and packaging baby corn and two years later established farming and packaging operations in Victoria’s Gippsland and later in northern NSW.
It is understood the business is being sold as part of succession planning. A representative of the family could not be reached for comment.
Mr Thomas said the Mulgowie portfolio presented investors with an opportunity to secure a renowned horticultural powerhouse.
“Mulgowie Farming Company is an icon in Australian horticulture and operates under a commercial trading structure with a professional management team of more than 500 people and an external, scalable network of 50 growers in Queensland, NSW and Victoria,” he said.
The company’s farm holdings comprise five aggregations, the largest being the Bowen Aggregation of 13 properties in North Queensland spread across 3100ha. Just over half of this is irrigated via a sub-surface drip line. It comes with processing facilities and substantial water entitlements.
The Home Hill Aggregation in North Queensland comprises two farms covering 1200ha, while the other aggregations are the Mulgowie-based collection of four farms spread across 280ha, the 245ha Glen Innes Aggregation in northern NSW and the Boisdale Aggregation at Maffra in Victoria’s Gippsland region.
Apart from growing sweet corn and green beans, the Mulgowie Farming Company has also opportunistically grown broccoli, capsicums and pumpkins, as well as potatoes, onions, tomatoes, leafy greens, sugarcane, cotton, cereals, fodder crops, legumes and tree crops.
The most recently lodged full-year accounts for Mulgowie Farming Company show the business generated revenues of $98 million for the 2018 financial year, and made a small loss after tax of $73,000. The prior year it had revenues of $101 million and made an after tax profit of $2.5 million.
The Moora Citrus Orchards business was established in the WA Wheatbelt region in 2006 after farming couple Michael Brennan and Sue Middleton discovered underground water on a sheep property in Moora.
They planted 170,000 citrus trees on the property and later secured the backing of the late property developer and Olympic rower Peter Gillon, who was Moora Citrus’ biggest shareholder.
Moora Citrus spans 341ha of landholdings of which 213ha are planted to citrus trees. There is also a 6934-square-metre packing facility and a 91ha property with 66ha of fruit orchards leased from fund manager Warakirri. Included in the sale are entitlements for 3400 megalitres of water.
“The Australian citrus industry is proudly one of Australia’s largest fresh produce exporters, and with exploding middle-class growth in Asia, Western Australia’s favourable location provides a gateway to lucrative export markets,” co-selling agent Mr McCulloch said.
