August 23, 2021

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Ben Craw, managing director of Sydney-based Oxley Capital Partners, has been tasked by a European family office with the divestment of the ‘THF Portfolio’ – a 21,900-hectare (54,117-acre) beef cattle and irrigated fodder aggregation located in Central Queensland, Australia.

Handling the sale, Oxley Capital Partners is an independent corporate advisory and investment firm specializing in agricultural assets and raising alternative forms of debt and equity capital with family-owned and corporate food and ag operations along the supply chain.

Made up of five highly productive grazing and fodder cropping operations, Oxley Capital Partners has been appointed to offer the portfolio either as a whole, or in individual parcels through a two-stage expression of interest (EOI) program.

Included in the sale are:

~ The Pocket: 1,917 hectares (4,737 acres) with 5,364 megaliter water allocation in Gogango, Queensland.
~ Mostowie: 3,859 hectares (9,536 acres) with 688 megaliter water allocation in Baralaba, Queensland.
~ Bindaree: 3,168 hectares (7,828 acres) with 1,135 megaliter water allocation in Moura, Queensland.
~ Karamea: 3,744 hectares (9,251 acres) in Moura, Queensland.
~ Lucie Station: 9,212 hectares (22,763 acres) in Bluff, Queensland.

Commenting on the sale, Craw said, “The sale program will be undertaken by way of a two-stage expressions of interest program. The five properties are offered for sale as a portfolio or individually, providing incoming purchasers flexibility to acquire the portfolio in one line, a combination of multiple properties or individually to bolt on to an existing operation.” 

As a whole, the portfolio includes 35 kilometers of frontage on the Dawson and Fitzroy Rivers, and a total of 7,187 megaliters of water allocations, giving the assets superior water security, and enabling 650 hectares (1,606 acres) to have spray irrigation through center pivots for the production of fodder, including Leucaena and hay, under-sown with improved pastures.

THF purchases and markets its own trade cattle including Brahman, Brangus, Droughtmaster, and Charbray varieties, and cattle are available via negotiation through the EOI program. In addition, a portfolio-wide pasture improvement program was undertaken that included blade ploughing, and spraying for regrowth and aerial seeding.

However, through land use conversion, the redirection of the strategic focus of the holdings, and diversifying cattle operations, the water allocations connected to THF provide opportunities to develop permanent crops or cotton production on the holdings.

An interesting factor connected to the THF Portfolio for consideration by prospective buyers is the Rockwood Weir – a A$367 million (US$264.7 million) water infrastructure project being built on the Fitzroy River with joint funding from the Australian Federal Government and the Government of Queensland. 

At only 66 kilometers southwest of Rockhampton, and in close proximity to the THF Portfolio property The Pocket, once the 16 meter-high weir is complete it may provide additional water security enabling a land use conversion toward higher-value agricultural use.

Likewise, the “Bindaree” and “Mostowie” properties are contiguous, divided only by the Dawson River, presenting a buyer with the ability to aggregate the two into a single formidable operation of more than 7,000 hectares (17,297 acres) with nearly 300 hectares (741 acres) under center pivot irrigation and 1,800 megaliters of water allocations. 

“This offers a great opportunity for a broad spectrum of buyers to participate in the sale process,” noted Craw. “We expect strong interest from local farming families chasing scale, and anticipate institutional capital to be active given the scale, quality and potential development opportunities through land use conversion into cotton or permanent plantings such as Macadamia nuts.”

Acceptance of expressions of interest as part of Stage 1 of the sale process will close Friday 17 September at 2 p.m. AEST, and inspections will be available to qualified parties by appointment only.

Following Stage 1 of the EOI process, the parties will be shortlisted and then invited to participate in a best and final offer round. The date and time for this part of the process is to be determined.

For more details on the sale click here – 

https://www.thfportfolio.com.au/

Or contact Ben Craw at: 0417 230 482  |  ben.craw@oxleycp.com 

All views, data, opinions and declarations expressed are solely those of the author(s) and not of Global AgInvesting, GAI News, or parent company HighQuest Group.