November 25, 2016

Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) has granted approval to Consolidated Australian Pastoral Holdings (CAPH) – a new joint venture investment group led by Adelaide-based advisory firm, Agrify and formed by an unnamed cattle family from Australia’s Kimberly region and a Chinese investor – to purchase four cattle stations owned by Nico Botha in Western Australia’s Kimberly region for $100 million.

The state’s record-breaking deal is for the SAWA aggregation– the largest northern grazing holding to be put on the market since S. Kidman was listed. Totaling just over one million hectares, the deal includes 47,000 head of cattle and:

-Mulla Bulla Station: 395,000 hectares,

-Amhurst Station: 260,000 hectares,

-Beefwood Park Station: 206,000 hectares, and

-Shamrock Station: 178,000 hectares.

The location of the SAWA holdings gives the operation access to the country’s two main exports points of Broome and Wyndham, positioning the operation as a supplier to the Indonesian market along with supplying to processors located in Perth and Darwin.

When the SAWA aggregation was listed for sale, Sue Brosnan, the marketing agent with Tanami Rural Property who managed the sale told Beef Central, “What’s underpinning the current scenario is even better commodity prices, but also a broader range of live export markets and weight ranges….beef prices throughout Australia are at record levels, driven by strong international demand.” She added “It’s now obvious that foreign investors see Australia as one of the key targets for agricultural investment worldwide, and the Federal Government’s White Paper on Northern Australia issued last year highlights the region’s unique opportunities in livestock.”

Indeed, international demand appears to be strengthening. The sale of the SAWA aggregation is the third large-scale sale of Australian cattle assets to interested Chinese parties within the past six months according to The Australian, following the purchase of S. Kidman for $386.5 million by Australian Outback Beef – a joint venture between Australia’s Gina Rinehart and China’s Shanghai CRED, and the purchase of the Carlton Hills station for $100 million by Shanghai Zhongfu in August.

A spokesman for Agrify told Beef Central that the CAPH group is planning on pursuing additional agricultural investments to build out its portfolio following the completion of the SAWA purchase, however, the group also has plans for the Kimberly properties.

“These particular buyers see the value in the aggregation’s land and cattle, natural geographic supply chain and the quality of the underlying land assets with future potential,” Ms. Brosnan with Tanami Rural Property told Beef Central.

“My understanding is CAPH intends to continue the pastoral enterprise on these properties and look at improving the enterprise and growing the capacity of the aggregation to produce good quality cattle.”

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Lynda Kiernan