This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
TIM Edmunds has quickly moved on from last month’s $96 million divestment of Alice Springs cattle stations, buying Henbury Station in central Australia for $32 million.
Spanning 5,218 square kilometres, Henbury Station is 230 kilometres south of Alice Springs and has capacity for up to 15,000 head of cattle.
Henbury Station had been bought 10 years ago by RM Williams Agricultural Holdings (RMWAH) for $13 million in a high-profile deal that was underpinned by a $9 million federal government grant to destock the property in favour of creating the largest carbon farm on the planet.
Despite Qantas signing a contract the following year to buy carbon credits from Henbury Station to offset its own emissions, RMWAH collapsed in 2013 and the plan never came to fruition. The property sold for $8.47 million soon after to brothers Ashley and Neville Anderson and David Rohan. Nearly 20% of the property, including the Running Waters permanent waterhole, was set aside as part of a biodiversity covenant.
Now, the property is in the hands of Tim Edmunds, according to Beef Central.
Edmunds last month sold off 1.1 million hectares including the Narwietooma, Napperby, Glen Helen and Derwent stations north west of Alice Springs to Queensland-based Hewitt Cattle Australia (HCA), which is backed by Canadian public servants pension fund PSP Investments.
The deal is believed to have included cattle, with the properties able to run about 40,000 head of cattle in total.
The Edmunds family had previously sold the Ambalindum and Numery Stations north east of Alice Springs to HCA five years ago.
Edmunds had entered into an agreement with Tony Davis less than two years ago to buy the 259,000 Narwietooma and the neighbouring 308,000 hectare Derwent and Glen Helen stations for $38.5 million. They already owned Napperby.
A trifecta of high commodity prices, supportive seasonal conditions and low interest rates continues to drive land values.
Tony and Pam Davis had paid $8.75 million for Narwietooma and $11.5 million, including 8,000 head of cattle, for Derwent and Glen Helen in 2015.
The most recent sales come as mining billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest snapped up two cattle stations in Western Australia for more than a combined $100 million.
