February 2, 2016

Australia’s Botha family, the principals of South African Western Australian Pastoral Company (SAWA Pastoral Company), have listed their four cattle holdings in Western Australia totaling one million hectares, according to The Australian.

The four Kimberley-based properties include the Moola Bulla (395,000 hectares), Mt. Amhurst (260,000 hectares), Beefwood Park (206,000 hectares), and Shamrock (178,000 hectares) stations, which are currently running the company’s calf crop and approximately 47,000 branded head of cattle. The offering is the largest since S. Kidman was listed last year, and comes at the same time as Harold Mitchell is offering a stake in his Kimberley-based Yougwalla Pastoral Company which runs 45,000 head of cattle on 850,000 hectares of owned land and 560,000 hectares of leased land.

With current values indicating that the cattle value of the operation could touch $50 million, the family is targeting a total sale price of $100 million and is expecting the properties to attract bids from both domestic and overseas institutional investors, reports Beef Central.

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.

Beef Central reports that the sale will be conducted through a two-stage process beginning with non-binding expressions of interest to be followed by binding offerings and a closing date of April 4, 2016.

Sue Brosnan, the marketing agent with Tanami Rural who is managing the sale, noted the upside for such a sale at this time, telling 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.” And 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.”