Rural Funds, SA winemakers list $80m of cattle stations
ASX-listed farmland trust Rural Funds Group has added to the growing number of big cattle stations hitting the market in northern Australia after listing one of its largest properties, a 225,800 hectare holding in Queensland’s Gulf of Carpentaria.
Mutton Hole and Oakland Park, which combined have a carrying capacity of almost 17,600 cattle and come with conditional approval to generate Australian carbon credit units, were valued at $29 million in June last year.
The two properties near Normanton and Croydon were acquired in 2016 by Rural Funds as part of a $50 million investment to establish a cattle breeding and finishing operation. The two properties were the trust’s first investments in the cattle sector, which is now its largest asset class ahead of almonds and its burgeoning macadamia portfolio.
Mutton Hole and Oakland Park as well as a third property – a 17,500ha finishing property called Rewan – were acquired for a combined $42 million, while a further $8 million was spent on cattle.
These three properties were leased for 10 years to a wholly owned subsidiary of the trust’s manager, Rural Funds Management, which bred cattle at Oakland Park and Mutton Hole, before transporting them to Rewan for finishing.
The subsequent lease of Rewan to ASX-listed Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) for its Wagyu enterprise removed the need for Rural Funds to retain the two breeding properties.
“This [leasing deal], coupled with the completion of our originally identified productivity improvements, has led to an ideal opportunity for a walk-in walk-out transaction,” said Rural Funds chief operating officer Tim Sheridan.
Grant Veivers and Simon Cudmore from LAWD and Troy Trevor and Peter Macpherson from Qld Rural are handling the sale.
Joining Rural Funds with a big cattle property offering are South Australian winemakers the DiGiorgio family, who are selling 147,510ha Aroona Station, a property they acquired from mining magnate Gina Rinehart for about $40 million in 2021.
Situated in the upper Victoria River District of the Northern Territory, Aroona has a carrying capacity of around 15,000 cattle. Jesse Manuel and Rawdon Briggs of Colliers are handling the sale.
The agents said an increasing positive outlook around live cattle exports to Indonesia, stabilising interest rates, and an exceptional wet season in the north had lifted inquiry levels for northern beef operations.
“Aroona Station is close to key infrastructure assets within the live export supply chain, and its main loading yards and homestead is only seven kilometres off the Victoria Highway,” Mr Briggs said.
While pricing is confidential, industry participants and advisors reckoned it could be worth more than $50 million all up (including land, 15,000 head of cattle, plant and machinery).
These two listings join 238,300ha Orange Station, 85 km south of Alice Springs, which is being offered with a 5000-head cattle herd and a 1000-head feedlot by cattle producer Wally Klein and his family, who have owned it since 1997.
The offering also includes 135ha Orange Creek Hay Farm, an irrigated property producing lucerne, sorghum, oats and wheat from two central pivots and with a 1090 megalitre groundwater extraction licence.
Price expectations for Orange Station are around $30 million. The property is being marketed by Olivia Thompson and Eline Wesselink from LAWD.
Also on the market is 522,000ha Limbunya Station, a beef breeding, backgrounding and finishing operation, in the NT’s Victoria River District with a carrying capacity of 40,000 cattle. It’s being sold by fund manager Sam Mitchell’s WealthCheck, which acquired it and another property known as Mayfield for more than $100 million less than two years ago. LAWD’s Danny Thomas, Olivia Thompson and Erica Semmens are handling the sale.
Another cattle property on the market is 96,615ha Vanlee Station, 75 km north-east of Georgetown in Far North Queensland. The station, which has a carrying capacity of about 9000 cattle, is being sold by Foote Prior and Leanne Condon. Henry Slaney of Slaney & Co in Charters Towers is handling the sale.
