September 3, 2024

By Gerelyn Terzo, Global AgInvesting Media

After putting its New South Wales (NSW) portfolio on the block a year ago, Australian Food and Agriculture (AFA) has found a buyer. Agriculture & Natural Solutions Acquisition Corporation (ANSC), a SPAC and joint venture between Impact Ag Partners and U.S. asset manager Riverstone Holdings, is scooping up 13 of AFA’s NSW farms across 225,405 hectares (556,987 acres) in a landmark A$780 million (US$510 million) deal, creating Agriculture & Natural Solutions Company Limited (NewCo). The deal, which reportedly surpasses AFA’s original target price, includes the target company’s historic sheep stations, not least the Merino studs that have underpinned Australia’s dominant wool industry for well over a century.

Through this transaction and future acquisitions, ANSC is building an agricultural decarbonization and premium product company. AFA’s management and support team are expected to remain intact at the company, while some members of the Impact Ag Partners team are likely to join AFA.

Impact Ag Australia CEO Hugh Killen recently told GAI News, “In August, our U.S. business, Impact Ag Partners LLC announced it had entered into a business agreement to acquire the Australian Food and Agriculture Co. for A$780 million (US$510 million). There’s some water to go under the bridge, with approval from shareholders and the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board still to come. But what a strong statement it is to the global ag community about the investment appetite for regenerative solutions, and Australia as the right place to deploy them.”

Upon investing in the ag industry for the past several decades, AFA boasts one of the biggest diversified agricultural portfolios in New South Wales, Australia, not least its Wanganella and Boonoke Merino Studs. According to the announcement, the land holds the capacity for “approximately 247,000 dry sheep equivalent, a newly expanded 12,000 head (standard cattle units) feedlot and approximately 87,000 acres of dryland and irrigated cropping, which produces irrigated cotton, irrigated rice, wheat, barley, canola, corn, chickpeas and faba beans, among other crops.”

AFA is majority owned by Bell Group Holdings, from which Alastair Provan retired as executive chairman last year, while famous U.S. hedge fund manager Ray Dalio holds a minority stake. ANSC completed its IPO last November with a strategy to target acquisitions in the agriculture sector offering attractive risk-adjusted returns and aligning with sustainability goals. The combined company comprising ANSC and AFA is headed for a likely public listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

ANSC CEO Bert Glover stated, “We have always believed that agriculture — backed by the right sort of capital — could deliver nature and climate solutions. ANSC is proud to enter into a business combination with AFA and looks to establish it as a leader in this regenerative transition not just in Australia, but across the world.”

ANSC Chairman David Leuschen, who is also a third generation Montana rancher, noted, “We are thrilled to have this opportunity for ANSC to combine with AFA. We view Australia as a leader in the application of new techniques to meaningfully decarbonize agriculture, and we believe that AFA represents a once in a generation chance to combine with a major Australian agricultural company, operating three marquee aggregations including some of Australia’s most iconic properties.”

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