Warakirri snares $33m orchards deal from Hong Kong tycoon
Agricultural fund manager Warakirri has taken over three orchards in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley in a $33 million deal with a company associated with one of Hong Kong’s wealthiest tycoons.
The three orchards, comprising an aggregation of 200 hectares, are leased to New Zealand-listed Seeka, the largest producer of kiwi fruit across New Zealand and Australia.
The New Zealand outfit had previously sold the freehold for the three orchards in 2020 in a sale-and-leaseback deal to an entity linked to Hong Kong conglomerate CK Group, founded by ageing billionaire Li Ka-Shing. The group’s Hong Kong-listed CK Life Sciences has considerable interests in Australia’s agriculture sector, ranging from vineyards, to agribusiness and salt production.
Li Ka-Shing handed control to son Victor Li in 2018, with the family’s global empire spanning transport, real estate, financial services and other sectors. The CK Group hit the headlines this year through a mega $36 billion deal with BlackRock which took over 43 ports – two of them bookending the Panama Canal – that were held in another arm of the family empire, CK Hutchison.
Meanwhile, back in Australia, the Hong Kong tycoon is also on the sell-side for the three Goulburn orchards which, along with kiwi fruit, produce small volumes of nashi pears, corella pears and jujubes.
On the buy side is local player Warakirri Asset Management, an investment platform running a series of unlisted vehicles including the Warakirri Farmland Fund, which has a $500 million target. After the Goulburn Valley deal, the fund has accumulated five assets and $130 million in deals, including vineyards and stone fruit orchards.
“We’re really pleased to add another prime horticultural asset to the Warakirri Farmland Fund, but equally excited to start a new relationship with Seeka,” said Steve Jarrott, the fund’s portfolio manager.
“The Goulburn Valley is one of the most productive agricultural areas in Australia and Seeka are not only a horticultural leader in this region, but a best-in-class operator in NZ and major global player in the kiwi fruit category.”
Established more than two decades ago, Warakirri is among a busy group of local investment managers which have been steering domestic and foreign institutional capital into Australia’s agriculture sector. Others include Macquarie, Roc Partners, New Forests, whose major backers are Japanese, and the Costa family-backed GO.FARM and Growth Farms Australia.
With around $3.5 billion in assets under management, Warakirri oversees more than 220,000 hectares of Australian agricultural land across 80 property aggregations for clients such as the Mormon Church’s Farmland Reserve.
