The agribusiness unit of Co2 Group Ltd, Western Australian Resources Ltd, is looking to raise $400 million by June of 2014 from private equity firms, foreign institutions, and interested investors to develop a 2,000 hectare prawn farm in Northern Australia. Western Australian Resources has announced it will acquire Seafarm Ltd – the oldest and largest prawn farm in Australia for $11.2 million and has already invested $10 million on feasibility studies. Seafarm is based in Queensland with two prawn farms and a processing plant that produces 2,000 tons of ‘Crystal Bay’ banana prawns per year. Seafarm also owns a hatchery in far north Queensland. Using the $400 million it raises, Western Australian Resources plans to develop a 2,000 hectare prawn farm in the Northern Territory or Queensland that would have the capacity to produce 20,000 tons of prawns per year. Eventually Western Australian Resources hopes to raise as much as $1.5 billion to fund the development of 10,000 hectares of prawn farms that would produce 100,000 tons of prawn annually.
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