Stock & Land | 28 February 2012
BY BRAD COOPER
REBOUNDING confidence in the live cattle export business is being hailed as a key factor in the sale of a prize Northern Territory holding to overseas interests.
Ray White Rural has confirmed cattle baron Sterling Buntine has sold Tanumbirini Station to UK-based private equity firm Thames Pastoral Pty Ltd.
The 500,000-hectare station, or 5100 sq km holding, located about 150 kilometres south-west of the Gulf of Carpentaria, is believed to have sold for about $33 million, and included about 28,000 head of mixed cattle in the contract.
Little is known about the buyer, which is entering the Australian cattle market for the first time. The firm's Australian representative David Connolly has told Fairfax Agricultural Media it could be weeks before he would be able to comment publicly on the transaction or the company's plans for Tanumbirini, saying he was under strict instructions from his employers to abide by a media gag.
"There are still papers to be signed and approvals and regulations to be worked through and until that is completed we won't be making any comment," he said on Monday.
However in a joint statement released exclusively by Ray White Rural to Fairfax Agricultural Media today, Mr Connolly, on behalf of the buyer said: "Thames Pastoral Pty Ltd are delighted to have the opportunity to purchase a property such as Tanumbirini Station stocked with a quality herd of cattle."
Mr Connolly said that while there was talk of new valuation benchmarks being set in the wake of the transaction, and speculation was rife about the buyer, their intentions and the final purchase price, the development spelt good news for the country's beef industry.
"The fact that this sale has progressed during the uncertainty of the live export market, shows how much faith investors have in the future of the Australian beef industry," he said.
Ray White Rural's Andrew Adcock said the sale showed confidence in the Northern Territory property market was picking up after a protracted period of stagnation, exacerbated since last year's disastrous one-month halt to the live cattle export trade to Indonesia.
Despite Indonesia announcing in December that it would slash cattle numbers leaving Australian shores in a bid to boost its own domestic beef industry, Mr Adcock suggested optimism was returning to the sector.
"The opportunity to run cattle in large numbers is currently driving interest in the Northern Territory property market," Mr Adcock said.
"Economies of scale is where it all comes back to, and in the current climate a lot of smaller operations are going to struggle. To that end we'll see more people in financial trouble and others prepared to take risks and opportunities."
Mr Adcock said Australian Agriculture Co's planned Darwin abattoir was having no bearing on the lift in buyer inquiries.
"It's optimism in the long term future of the live export industry that is bringing buyers back to the NT - that's what they are telling us," Mr Adcock said.
"I think buyers that have been tentatively circling the market for a number of years are now starting to act because they are seeing the opportunities come forward. Everyone can sell a property in the NT and elsewhere right now if they price it right."
Mr Adcock said despite claims of large foreign interests in Australian cattle properties, his data showed most of the big money for blue ribbon cattle holdings was still coming from Australian buyers.
The sale of Sterling Buntine's 500,000-hectare Tanumbirini Station, located about 150 kilometres south-west of the Gulf of Carpentaria, is believed to have sold for about $33 million to overseas buyer Thames Pastoral Pty Ltd, raising the benchmark for a depressed NT property market.
BY BRAD COOPER
REBOUNDING confidence in the live cattle export business is being hailed as a key factor in the sale of a prize Northern Territory holding to overseas interests.
Ray White Rural has confirmed cattle baron Sterling Buntine has sold Tanumbirini Station to UK-based private equity firm Thames Pastoral Pty Ltd.
The 500,000-hectare station, or 5100 sq km holding, located about 150 kilometres south-west of the Gulf of Carpentaria, is believed to have sold for about $33 million, and included about 28,000 head of mixed cattle in the contract.
Little is known about the buyer, which is entering the Australian cattle market for the first time. The firm's Australian representative David Connolly has told Fairfax Agricultural Media it could be weeks before he would be able to comment publicly on the transaction or the company's plans for Tanumbirini, saying he was under strict instructions from his employers to abide by a media gag.
"There are still papers to be signed and approvals and regulations to be worked through and until that is completed we won't be making any comment," he said on Monday.
However in a joint statement released exclusively by Ray White Rural to Fairfax Agricultural Media today, Mr Connolly, on behalf of the buyer said: "Thames Pastoral Pty Ltd are delighted to have the opportunity to purchase a property such as Tanumbirini Station stocked with a quality herd of cattle."
Mr Connolly said that while there was talk of new valuation benchmarks being set in the wake of the transaction, and speculation was rife about the buyer, their intentions and the final purchase price, the development spelt good news for the country's beef industry.
"The fact that this sale has progressed during the uncertainty of the live export market, shows how much faith investors have in the future of the Australian beef industry," he said.
Ray White Rural's Andrew Adcock said the sale showed confidence in the Northern Territory property market was picking up after a protracted period of stagnation, exacerbated since last year's disastrous one-month halt to the live cattle export trade to Indonesia.
Despite Indonesia announcing in December that it would slash cattle numbers leaving Australian shores in a bid to boost its own domestic beef industry, Mr Adcock suggested optimism was returning to the sector.
"The opportunity to run cattle in large numbers is currently driving interest in the Northern Territory property market," Mr Adcock said.
"Economies of scale is where it all comes back to, and in the current climate a lot of smaller operations are going to struggle. To that end we'll see more people in financial trouble and others prepared to take risks and opportunities."
Mr Adcock said Australian Agriculture Co's planned Darwin abattoir was having no bearing on the lift in buyer inquiries.
"It's optimism in the long term future of the live export industry that is bringing buyers back to the NT - that's what they are telling us," Mr Adcock said.
"I think buyers that have been tentatively circling the market for a number of years are now starting to act because they are seeing the opportunities come forward. Everyone can sell a property in the NT and elsewhere right now if they price it right."
Mr Adcock said despite claims of large foreign interests in Australian cattle properties, his data showed most of the big money for blue ribbon cattle holdings was still coming from Australian buyers.
