Sydney investor Jacky Cheung adds prized Scone farm to $265m portfolio
Sydney-based investor Jacky Cheung has added another prized farming property to his extensive real estate portfolio with the $32.5 million purchase of Balarang Station in the NSW Upper Hunter region.
Property records show the 5810-hectare cattle farm near Scone – one of the 10 largest holdings in the Upper Hunter – was purchased by Marina Seven Holdings, a company directed by an associate of Mr Cheung, Zhang Guirong.
The acquisition of Balarang Station comes just two months after Mr Cheung’s Marina Nine Holdings paid $88 million for a large cotton and cropping portfolio on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River near Whitton in the NSW Riverina.
Mr Cheung has maintained a very low profile, whilst accumulating, with his wife Cheng Mei Ying and Zhang Guirong, a diversified real estate portfolio worth more than $265 million.
Their Sydney portfolio includes a $23 million Pyrmont penthouse, multiple residential and commercial units in Pyrmont and Haymarket, a Pyrmont marina berth, a three-bedroom house in Cremorne, a four-bedroom home in Castle Cove, and a five-bedroom mansion on half a hectare in Castle Cove (purchased in 2021 for $15 million).
He also owns a Bunnings warehouse and A-mart furniture retail site in Melbourne’s west purchased for $100 million in 2022 and multiple rural properties in the Hunter Valley and Southern Highlands.
According to calculations by Domain, Mr Cheung and his entourage owned $233 million of properties before the purchase of Balarang Station.
Balarang Station selling agent Michael Burke from McGrath Upper Hunter said he had been instructed by the parties involved in the transaction not to comment.
The Australian Financial Review was seeking to contact Mr Cheung on Sunday.
Mr Burke wrote on social media that the sale of Balarang Station was the biggest transaction in the Upper Hunter Valley since the sale of 30,000-hectare Glenrock Station near Scone to Chinese interests for about $45 million in 2015.
The most famous farming property in the region is the Packer family’s Ellerston Estate, which includes polo fields and a golf course.
Situated at 2730 Waverley Road, Waverly – about 60 kilometres north of Scone – Balarang Station was sold by Ian Plunkett through his Sydney-based company Fostoria-Fannon. Last year Mr Plunkett sold another nearby cattle property, the 1976-hectare Crawney Station for $10.17 million.
Balarang Station was renowned in the Upper Hunter for its use of regenerative agriculture practices to restock the property after drought, with these initiatives spearheaded by farm manager Byron Hubbard.
Also in the Upper Hunter, another blue ribbon cattle property, the 2074-hectare Fernleigh next door to the Packer’s Ellerston Station has sold. Fernleigh had a price guide of $12.3 million to $13.9 million. It includes a five-bedroom homestead set within designer gardens, five-bedroom guest accommodation and a three-bedroom manager’s residence.
Fernleigh was listed for sale by the Caskey family after just three years of ownership. The family operated it as a high-end health retreat alongside a profitable cattle grazing enterprise. The selling agent was also McGrath’s Michael Burke.
