Paraway Pastoral and Viridis Ag, two units of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA), are moving to divest certain assets acquired from Hassad Agriculture last year.
In early September 2018, Macquarie’s Paraway Pastoral agreed to an acquisition that would 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, Paraway Pastoral acquired the remaining farmland assets of Hassad Australia, a unit of the Qatari sovereign wealth fund – The Qatar Investment Authority – for nearly $300 million.
The nine properties spanning Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia included in the 2018 deal, which exceeded 100,000 hectares and ran more than 47,000 head of cattle, were split between the two MIRA farming companies, Paraway Pastoral and Viridis Ag. These included:
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
Being sold are five groups of holdings, with Paraway Pastoral expected to be selling grain growing holdings, while Viridis is expected to be divesting grazing land. The first auction is expected to take place in South Australia on February 22, reports Farm Online, with agent expectations for bidding ranging from $4,400 per hectare to $7,000 per hectare.
The combined Laura Downs group of four properties and the 3,365-hectare Paddys River parcels are being sold with expectations of fetching $21 million and $17 million respectively.
“These are strategic investment decisions by the two businesses,” said CBRE Agribusiness director, Col Medway, who is marketing the New South Wales holdings.
“The decision to sell was made because the properties just do not fit the investment mandates and long term plans of each fund, and the vendors recognise there’s keen market demand for well developed, prime quality holdings with scale.”
Expressions of interest for either individual farms, multi-farm parcels, or associated water entitlements are being accepted by March 7.
-Lynda Kiernan