September 4, 2018

Macquarie’s Pastoral Paraway has agreed to an acquisition that will be the largest farmland deal since the sale of S. Kidman to Gina Rinehart and China’s Shanghai CRED for A$386.5 million in 2016.

Through the deal, Pastoral Paraway will acquire the remaining farmland assets of Hassad Australia, a unit of the Qatari sovereign wealth fund – The Qatar Investment Authority – for nearly $300 million.  As part of the deal, The Australian Financial Review reports that the Qatar Investment Authority will also become an investor in Pastoral Paraway.

Established in 2009, Hassad Australia began buying farms in Australia in 2010 with the purchase of the Kaladbro station in Victoria for approximately $25 million. Over the years it has built up a portfolio with a value exceeding $100 million.

More recently however, the unit has changed directions, deciding to restructure its Australian portfolio away from pure-play agricultural production to one that will include more value-added investments along the sheepmeat and grain supply chains. Plans also include the creation of an export business, according to AFR, and so began the selling of select assets.

In September 2016 Hassad Australia sold the Victoria-based 2,632-hectare Kaladbro Station, the first property bought by the fund in Australia, to Tom and Pat Brinkworth for more than $20 million.

In July 2017 Hassad Australia sold the Clover Downs Station in Queensland to farmer Bill Zell for $27 million. Originally acquired by Hassad Australia from Clyde Agriculture in 2010 for $18.5 million, the 125,000-hectare Clover Downs is a large-scale sheep breeding hub, and was one of the multiple properties making up the Hassad Australia portfolio spanning the states of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, and South Australia.

September of last year saw the divestment of its entire South Australia farming operations and an additional property in New South Wales that collectively total more than 10,000 hectares of prime cropping land. Included were the Glendale aggregation in Clare, South Australia – a property totaling 2,236 hectares encompassing 12 semi-contiguous parcels; and Cummins/Ungara – a 7,106-hectare property including 11 dryland cropping parcels. A third property – the 8,560-hectare sheep holding station, Raby in New South Wales – was also sold.

Most recently, within recent weeks, Hassad Australia sold its 44,677-hectare Telopea Downs aggregation in western Victoria to family-owned AJ & PA McBride for more than $70 million.

This latest divestment to Pastoral Paraway reportedly totals 104,000 hectares in Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia and includes:

Old Bundamar – a 22,562-hectare sheep, wool, and grain farm

Gindurra – an 8,516-hectare sheep, wool, and grain farm

Englefield Plains – a 7,4468-hectare  wool and grain farm

Barton Station – an 8,244-hectare sheep, wool, and grain farm

Amarinya, a 14,672 grain farm

Bindana Downs – an 8,483-hectare grain farm

Yupiri – an 8,340-hectare grain farm

And Urawilkie – a 25,932-hectare grain and livestock farm

The deal, which reportedly includes 47,500 head of cattle, has already secured approval from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).

-Lynda Kiernan