This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
CHINESE-Australian billionaire Hui Win Mau has found a buyer for his near-three million hectare Kimberley cattle station portfolio, with a Canadian fund manager teaming up with locals New Agriculture to acquire the land in a $300 million deal.
Put to the market early last month, the Kimberley Cattle Portfolio spans more than 2.9 million hectares over six pastoral leases totalling 1,828,692 hectares and six sub-leases across 924,325 hectares in Western Australia, and an agistment agreement over 153,475 hectares.
It includes a rate rare combination of large-scale breeding capacity and irrigated finishing, with room for further building.
Land types range from red Spinifex to black soil grasslands and river frontage. The properties include frontage to the Margaret River, Mary River, Louisa River and Christmas Creek, with extensive underground water resources underpinned by a 9,500 megalitre irrigation licence on “Shamrock Station” from the Broome Sandstone aquifer.
The portfolio is now in the hands of Canada’s Alberta Investment Management Corporation, or AIMCo, which has $175 billion in assets under management for funds in the province of Alberta, and New Agriculture, part of New Forests, which has $11 billion under management.
AIMCo and New Forests partnered up two years ago for the acquisition of the 105,000-hectare Lawson Grains portfolio for more than half a billion dollars.
“The Kimberley Cattle Portfolio – AIMCo’s first investment in this sector – is an established and well-managed asset that provides important diversification in our client portfolios,” said Ben Hawkins, executive managing director, head of infrastructure and renewable resources at AIMCo.
Haydn and Jane Sale will be retained as managers of the Kimberley Cattle Portfolio.
Bruce King, director of New Agriculture said, “Kimberley Cattle Portfolio offers a key opportunity to manage for strong investment outcomes alongside leading sustainability objectives.
“With up to 25% of the solution to climate change expected to come from the land use sector, we have a responsibility to manage these landscapes for sustainability outcomes, and with our local communities in mind. Our intention is to apply the same level of rigour and commitment to sustainability that New Forests has in the forestry space to the agriculture sector.
“New Agriculture will continue to focus on sustainability practices which allow for not only the protection and restoration of landscapes, but which also lead to the enhancement of natural capital over time.”
Hui, who has an estimated wealth of $4.9 billion, is the majority owner of Hong Kong-listed Shimao Group, a Chinese development company that has been caught up in the country’s property crisis. Shimao undertook a debt restructuring after missing repayments on a US$1 billion offshore bond, sending its share price plummeting.
Hui’s other Australian agricultural interests include a majority stake in NSW meat processor and exporter Bindaree Beef Group, which he acquired in 2017 for $120 million through his Archstone Investment Group.
