This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
PRIMEWEST has paid $42 million for Lamattina, one of the largest land holdings on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.
This is the second acquisition for the recently established Primewest Agricultural Trust No 1 fund.
The 385 hectare property is one of the most significant high value food producers on the Peninsula. It has water licences covering 1,494 ML including bore, surface and Class A recycled water with a year round state of the art irrigation system. The property also features 120ha of land with greenfield development potential.
Primewest director David Schwartz said Lamattina was a rare, investment grade, agricultural asset secured on a long term, triple net lease back to one of Australia’s largest celery producers with ongoing supply agreements to major supermarkets including Coles and Woolworths.
“Lamattina is a highly regarded and well managed operation which controls over 50% of Australia’s celery market and benefits from outstanding water security and blue chip supply agreements,”
Schwartz said Primewest had taken a counter-cyclical approach to investing in the agricultural sector, building a suite of quality agricultural investments leased to strong tenant covenants.
He said the first acquisition in the new agricultural trust had been Pinegatta near the town of Deniliquin in the NSW southern riverine region. It primarily produces carrots and potatoes, most recently servicing contracts to the Smith Snack Food Company (Pepsico).
The trust paid $4.8 million for the 425 hectare property, which is leased to blue chip tenant Kagome – Australia’s largest fruit and vegetable processor with a market capitalisation in excess of $2 billion.
